■^■ 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS. 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 






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*^;^i 










OVER THE 



Purple Hills: 



OR, 



SKETCHES OF TRAVEL IN CALIFORNIA 



OF IMPORTANT POINTS USUALLY VISITED 
BY TOURISTS. 



By CAROLINE M., CHURCHILL. 

AUTHOR OF '■'■ LITtLe SHEAVES." 



CHICAGO: 

HAZUTT & REED, PRINTERS, 1 72 AND I74 CLARK STREET. 
1877. 

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Vf 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1876, hj 

CAROLINE M. CHURCHILL, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 







I 






IVLy Westei^ Patrons, 
this volume is respectfully dedicated 

BY 

THE AUTHOR. 



PREFACE. 



In making a few prefatorial remarks I desire to say 
that this little work, now presented to the public, is a book 
of travels written by a woman, and the journeyings have 
been performed by a woman alone. Mother Partington 
and some of the Grundys may be led to exclaim, " Dew 
tell !" " feerful to behold !" and " what is this world a com- 
ing tew!" "who is there left to take care of the children! " 
etc. One would think it high time for people to lay aside 
such ridiculous prejudices, but they never will; the mass 
of mankind are tinctured with local superstitions that 
could not survive one moment with a single ray of reason 
brought to bear upon them ; still these superstitions are 
cherished as a species of Deity, to be invoked when its 
subjects are in danger of fancied contamination. In mak- 
ing a business for myself, I have traveled eight months of . 
(5) 



6 PREFACE. 

the year for the last six years. I have in the last two years 
disposed of seven thousand copies of my first work, which 
is also a book of travels, entitled " Little Sheaves." I will 
say that I find the majority of my countrymen generous, 
brave, tolerant and gallant — God bless them! — willing 
that one woman at least shall not be pushed into matri- 
mony simply for the sake of an existence. It is strange 
what queer forms the superstitions of difierent races will 
assume, and they all have them, from the lowest grades of 
savage life up to the highest civilization, and they have all 
a remarkable family resemblance. Perhaps it is because 
it is impossible for any people to become civilized to a 
man. Absurd, unjust and cruel as all prejudices are apt 
to be, and all leveled at the head of defenseless woman, as 
if she were the only live enemy with which the race had 
to contend. As a sample of the inconstancy of some pre- 
judices against sex, we find the foreign woman coming 
from all directions beyond the sea, with no other protec- 
tion than her own strong arm, and it is well with her if 
she engage in service, or anything considered legitimate 
for woman. But let an intelligent American woman 
undertake to compete with man by transacting business 
upon an equal footing, stopping at the same hotels, and 
paying the same price for living, and there will be persons 
found who have their doubts about encouraging a course 



PREFACE. 7 

SO eccentric. Verily, the world is made up of strange 
inconsistencies, and I suppose that I am one of them. I 
would therefore like a word in justice to myself, and also 
to my sex. When I am accused, tried and convicted of 
taking advantage of the infirmities of some poor unsus- 
pecting hotel proprietor, or misleading his innocent male 
guest; of the misdemeanor of stealing cakes of soap, or 
of appropriating towels or half candles, then there will be 
time, and not till then, to consign and condemn myself, 
with all others of my wicked sex, to eternal location where 
they can have a chance to do nothing but scrub out their 
low lived destinies upon the washboard and back door 
steps ; where they may be vigilantly watched and properly 
haunted during the remainder of their vicious lives. 

I will say in conclusion that in all my lonely wander- 
ings 1 have found humane and sympathetic hearts every- 
where, and have endeavored to carry one along with me. 
One's principles are eternal ; they can be left behind us no 
more than can the color of our eyes or complexions, and 
while I am soliciting for my new book, " Over the Pur- 
ple Hills," I am also soliciting a broader toleration for 

woman. 

The Author. 



CONTENTS 



San Francisco and Mayfield 11 

Monte Diablo 16 

Bartlett's Springs 25 

Stockton 59 

Napa 74 

Lake Tahoe .- 83 

Coral or Alabaster Cave 113 

Going into the Yosemite Valley 117 

What I Saw and Heard in the Valley 135 

Strawberrying in the Yosemite Valley 154 

Vernal AND Nevada Falls 165 

Mirror Lake 178 

Leaving Yosemite Valley 181 

VisALiA Branch of Central Pacific Railroad.. .213 

Monterey 224 

Vallejo 233 

Placerville .239 

Salt Lake City 244 

The Traveler's Bill. 253 



OYER THE PUEPLE HILLS. 



SAN FKAlSrCISCO AND MAYFIELD. 



LEAVING San Francisco with its damp- 
freighted winds, I never more fully appre- 
ciated the glories of the interior, those por- 
tions of the State protected from the unpleasant 
features of the coast climate. San Francisco 
cannot be considered an unhealthy city, yet per- 
sons with certain constitutional peculiarities and 
tendencies can never have even passible health 
upon the w^est side of the coast range. A family 
from Detroit, Michigan, were upon the train 
bound for Montera}^, and it was refreshing to 
hear their comments upon coming from the 
(11) 



12 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

regions of snow and ice to the plush-covered 
hills of California. As we near Menlo Park the 
Detroit people wonder why the forest trees are 
not cut down and fruit trees planted in their 
stead. They were answered that the forest trees 
were preferable, being much cleaner and nicer 
for the shade of a park. Fruit is so easily raised 
in this country, and so plentiful, that it is often 
an incumbrance upon the ground. The trees 
frequently commence bearing at the age of two 
and three years, and produce so abundantly as 
to cause the tree to j)erish from the draught 
upon its vital it3\ My first stopping place is 
Mayfield. This village is situated in Santa Clara 
county, surrounded by those beautiful foot-hills 
which rise like fortifications to encompass the 
valleys all over the varying surface of this pic- 
turesque country. Mayfield is appropriately 
named; it is as fragrant as a fresh bouquet of 
flowers, and this vegetable aroma permeates the 
atmosphere at nearly all seasons of the year. 
Blessed are the poor who can leave the dingy 
city and find a chance to subsist in these small 
towns of the interior. 



SAN FRANCISCO AND MAYFIELD. IS 

The land about here is said to be owned in 
large tracts, so that the small farmer has no 
chance except bj renting; and then it seems 
difficult to compete with those wlio do business 
upon such a gigantic scale. I am in doubt about 
the number of the population of Maylield, but 
they have a corner grocery, a post office, an 
express office, blacksmith shop, and commodious 
hotel. In point of size the latter would astonish 
a stranger not familiar with the demands made 
upon these interior villages. During summer 
many of the inhabitants of San Francisco leave 
the city and search these quiet nooks, where tlie 
air is so warm, pure, sweet, and the fragrance of 
vegetation and stillness make it seem like an 
earthly paradise. People come in flocks from 
the coast to get warmed from the chill of damp 
ocean breezes. It is quite a resort for sports- 
men; several alighted with their dogs and guns 
for a season of shooting. Upon touching the 
soft green grass the dogs seemed perfectly crazy; 
they rolled and rubbed themselves in the sweet- 
scented vegetation and whined with delight. 
While the men were waiting for a conveyance 



14 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

to take them to the hunting ground, the dogs 
played scent and hunt around the depot in glee- 
ful anticipation of the game that was to be 
brought to sorrow, By-and-by the wagons came 
and they were all tumbled in and commanded to 
keep quiet. The creatures licked their lips as 
if to seal them, for it evidently required much 
effort for them to conceal their enthusiasm. 

Mountainview is another station upon the 
road, the real town or name being located a mile 
from the depot. The cottages of this little 
hamlet are exceedingly small and rustic, and the 
gardens appear like the grounds assigned to pre- 
cocious youth that the young idea might be 
trained to agricultural pursuits. Mountainview, 
like most of these small inland towns, has a 
good hotel and a picturesque school house, sur- 
rounded by the bushy-topped native oak, and the 
people who support well this public institution 
are in a fair way to sometime occupy more 
spacious dwellings and enjoy more extensive 
gardens. If the human brain is disciplined to 
think a country must be poor indeed tliat shall 
not be made to yield them wealth, but the richest 



SAN FRANCISCO AND MAYFIELD. 16 

soil and finest climate upon the earth will only 
produce human animals, (classes excepted,) where 
the educational interest of the working people is 
neglected. There is probably no country in the 
world where people can endure poverty as well 
as in this. The climate is so mild that with a 
rude shelter, a few acres of land even rented, two 
or three goats, or a cow, with ordinary industry, 
almost any family can gain a subsistence. Many 
emigrants come here from the older States, 
recline upon the dignity of American citizen- 
ship, refusing to do the work performed by 
the Chinaman, consequently this enterprising 
heathen is laying up a competency while the 
American Micawber is growing rusty and 
anticipating starvation. Well, it is my opinion 
that the man who will starve in California, unless 
by accident, might as well be out of the way. 
The absurd dignity of extreme poverty can only 
be equalled by its inconsistency. 
April. 



MONTE DIABLO. 

MONTE DIABLO is tlie name of a prom- 
inence three tlionsand eight luindred 
and lifty-eight feet above the level of the sea. 
This point occurs about twenty-eight miles from 
San Francisco, and is the terminus of one spur 
of the coast range. There are many higher 
points upon the coast than Monte Diablo, but 
from its peculiar position it gives one of the 
most extensive landscape views in the known 
world. The eve has a ranc^e from Lasson's Peak 
in*the north to Whitney^s in the south, a distance 
of three hundred and twenty-live miles, giving 
an area as large as the whole state of New York. 
The Faralone Islands, forty miles out at sea, can 
be traced rising in the misty distance like the 
"white walls of a vast storehouse. The checkered 
(16) 



MONTE DIABLO. IT 

streets of San Francisco with its shipping may 
be seen upon one hand and the dome of the State 
House at Sacramento upon the other. In the 
north looms up the weird Buttes and the snow 
clad Shasta, and in the east the cloud capped 
Sierras. Thirty-six towns and villages can be 
counted from this elevation ; bays, rivers and 
islands lie before the vision as if traced upon 
a map. Suisun Bay and San Pabloe appear like 
little inland lakes. It is said that one of the 
most sublime features of this locality is its storms ; 
as there is neither thunder nor lightning accom- 
paning them, there is little to fear except the 
temporary effect of the wind. The voice of the 
storm is an indescribable high toned roar, the 
crash, din and tumult being really enjoyable. 
These coast mountains have not the grand old 
pine forests of the Sierra Nevadas, the growth 
being limited to scrub oak and small shrubs and 
many of them only the dried grasses to cover the 
naked earth. Still there is something attractive 
about them if it is only to give a crooked variety 
of outline to the horizon. The foot-hills are 
fertile and susceptible of cultivation as well as 



18 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

making an excellent range for grazing purposes. 
I tarried four days about Monte Diablo, and had 
the pleasure of seeing one of the most gorgeous 
sunsets that I ever beheld. 

The ocean fog and mist came flying up the 
ravine past the hotel in such distinct vapory 
forms as to cause one to speak of them as living 
creatures. In fact the canon seemed a thor- 
oughfare where the fog was drafted by the air 
from the ocean and valley to certain points near 
the mountain tops. The course of these flying 
vapors was so marked, and they flitted so steadily 
but silently by that they formed a feature of 
great interest. The doors of the hotel had been 
closed to prevent any straggling damps from 
entering; everything appeared foggy and gloomy. 
All at once a west window was lighted up, as if 
by the sudden blaze of a bonfire. A young girl 
screamed and looked frightened, exclaiming "O 
dear, the valley is all on fire!" As the sun was 
sinkine: in the west and his beams assumed the 
right focus, all this gloom chan'ged in the twink- 
ling of an eye, and the fog became a bright flame 
color, still keeping its billowy identity. Yiew- 



MONTE DIABLO. 19 

ing it from the elevation of the hotel some dis- 
tance above the valley the effect was wonderful. 
In a few moments it changed from a flame color 
to a light yellow, and as the sun disappeared it 
shed a beautiful pink shade upon the mist, giving 
the ravine and whole valley the appearance of 
being drg-ped in undulating folds of pink tarlton. 
This gradually faded to white, then to a leaden 
blue, and the last that I saw of the scene, those 
misty ghosts were chasing one another up the 
ravine, just as they did before the illumination, 
only a little faster and with vapors more con- 
densed. 

The next morning I ascended the summit that 
I might see what had become of those foggy 
flocks driving for the hill tops the night before. 
There they were to my astonishment, having 
reached a certain altitude they had halted to rest, 
hovering over the foot-hills upon the south side of 
Monte Diablo, completely covering them from 
sight, like so many snowy fleeces, for they had 
changed the lead colored traveling dress and were 
all robed in white. The summit of Diablo was 
entirely above this ocean of mist and upon the 



20 OVER THE PUKPLE HILT^. 

north tlie landscape was as clear as if the hills 
upon the south side of the point were not entirely 
enveloped in this downy covering. What a kind 
provision of nature ! the drafts of air just suck 
these clouds of fog up the ravines ; here they cling 
around the hill tops until eaten up by a tropical 
sun, or are poured out in draughts of rain, which 
runs into the valleys, giving this water first to 
the mountains, next to the valleys, lastly the 
rivers. Truly, 

" He moves in a mysterious way, 
His wonders to perform." 

At this season of the year the clouds do not 
amount to rain, although they moisten vegeta- 
tion wherever they appear, that is all along the 
coast and save the necessity of irrigation. 

Old Sol in his morning rounds searches out 
every obscure hollow or indentation where vapors 
have dared to gather during his temporary 
absence, and when his beams strike the spot 
little spirits of vapor are seen to rise up as 
distinctly and rapidly as the smoke from the flue 
of a chimney and are gone in a moment, swal- 
lowed by this yellow-faced ogre. Looking down 



MONTE DIABLO. 21 

upon this ocean of fog, I could imagine it peo- 
pled with ethereal beings, as it would require 
but an occasional flap of angel wings to keep 
afloat upon this beautiful sea of glory. 

When sinking nearly through, one could 
obtain a rare view of the scarlet poppy fields, 
the soft green hills and picturesque animal life 
peacefully grazing, and while the sun is scatter- 
ing the fog-cloud, I look to the north and see 
the discolored waters of the Sacremento and the 
San Joaquin rivers with their soiled tributaries 
slowly coursing along, uniting in one body before 
passing the Golden Gate to enter the great peace- 
ful ocean. Tracing these rivers from their source 
until they reach their destiny, liow much they 
resemble the course of human life. Falling 
from the clouds a pure snow-flake, pillowed for 
a time upon the loftj^ mountain tops, there to be 
warmed into liquid bodies, carried below by cir- 
cumstances to the great world of usefulness, for 
a time maintaining its purity of color to the 
admiration of the sentimental tourist and j^rac- 
tical native, dispensing blessings to thirsty vega- 
table and animal life. As it descends farther, it 



22 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

is concentrated into iron pipes and wooden flumes 
and dashed with Niagara force into tlie red clay 
bank to start from its hiding place the yellow 
gold dust which it baptises to a new life of use- 
fulness. Here the die is cast, henceforth until 
the sea is reached, must the river which first 
came to earth "a snow-flake, travel through all 
its life of utility with the stain of soil upon its 
bosom, and the signs of its uses marked in all 
its varying phases. The days of its romance 
are ended, the dashing cascade and coquetish 
waterfall, its wayward wanderings through groves 
and woods, its deep and quiet thoughtful moods, 
its spreading out to hold the plain then shrink- 
ing to its banks again, an emblem of our life to 
lend, it chafes its banks until the end. 

If it were not for contemplating the destruc- 
tion of life and property in the valleys, the rising 
of those rivers from Monte Diablo would be one 
of the grandest sights in the world. Swollen 
five times their natural size, filled with monster 
trees and drift-wood of every conceivable shape, 
the mountain sending their furious little torrent 
down their sides, and the roaring rapid current 



MONTE DIABLO. 23 

lending the facination of force to the scene, all to- 
gether forming a fearful, moving picture, while 
we could stand on Monte Diablo's top and view 
the landscape o'er. These scenes have the effect 
upon my nature to arouse sleeping sublimity 
and veneration, and once a daj I resolve myself 
into a methodist prayer meeting, stealing away 
around the hills where I have a fine view of the 
valley, here to sing sacred pieces and read a selec- 
tion from the Psalms of David. I found pecu- 
liar comfort in reading aloud the Church of Eng- 
land burial service, for I imagine the green, 
oblong mounds to be the graves of the gods 
where they have lain down to rest themselves 
after some very fatiguing labors, with their 
heads reclining heavenwards, and have forgotten 
to rise again and become a part of the everlast- 
ing hills to share alike in their misty cloud-caps, 
purple mantles and beautiful dresses of green 
and autumn brown. The birds seem to catch the 
inspiration of the scene and remain suspended 
on fluttering wing, hovering over the enchanted 
Valley. 

I returned to the Central Pacific Kailroad and 



24: OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

practical life by the Sanramoon Yalley to Liver- 
more. This route to Monte Diablo is most desira- 
ble. The Sanramoon Yalley is one of the most 
productive spots in the whole State and is under 
fine cultivation. Fields of wheat were standing 
fence high, green as a meadow, and level as a house 
floor, and so heavily laden as to tremble in tlie 
breeze from their weight. Orchards loaded with 
fruit, in fact, everything wearing a look of lux- 
urient prosperity. The soil is dark and rich. 
Shade trees are planted for miles along the pub- 
lic highway. The meadow lark, and linnet, quail 
and robin, all were singing " more wheat, big 
wheat, sweet wheat, we'll eat the wheat." 
May. 




BAETLETT^S SPRINGS. 

17^ ROM Cloverdale, which is the present ter- 
minus of the Northern Pacific Railroad, 
the route to Bartlett's Springs is literally up- 
ward and onward. After reaching the Springs 
one fully realizes that they lie over the hills and 
far away. The ride of twenty- seven miles from 
Cloverdale to Kelserville is about the same in 
points of interest as the mountain roads usually 
are throughout the State. The scenery grand, 
ever varying, and every change bringing with it 
new beauties in the singular formation of the 
mountain landscape. There is the finest variety 
of wild flowers upon this route that I have ever 
observed upon any of the mountain roads in 
California. Leaving Cloverdale at six a. m., we 
arrive at a little place called Kelserville at two 
(25) 



2d over the purple hills. 

p. M. Here again is verified tlie adages which 
declare that " there is nothing in a name," ''and 
that a rose would smell as sweet bv any other." 
The tourist will readily concede that as a village 
Kelserville comes as near to nothing as anything 
can, and at the same time have been duly chris- 
tened; also that it would smell as sweet by any 
other cognomen. There are several gas springs 
located about one-half mile from the hotel. 
These openings .emit the most abominable gase- 
ous odors that are manufactured in his Satanic 
majesty's kingdom. An iron tube is placed in 
one of these infernal outlets, which collects the 
gas in a stream, so that when ignited a beautiful 
blue blaze shoots up about two feet in height. 
This matter, which a moment before belonged to 
the invisible world, now becomes a living reality 
to more than one of the senses. These springs 
must be visited at night, as the color of the 
burning gas is so pale at daylight as to be 
scarcely visible. The practical mind at once 
feels a longing to utilize this liberal production 
of mother nature, and the imagination sets to 
running pipes miles away over the hills, to carry 



babtlett's springs. 2T 

this illuminating fluid to towns and cities, where 
it may be used for lighting streets and dwellings, 
for chemical and scientific purposes, and the con- 
venience of the culinary department, and thereby 
fulfill the destiny of nature to supply the wants 
of the primitive God-Man. The mind of the 
visionary religionist creates an altar where sacri- 
fice could be offered to the Maker of the universe, 
and where the fires of eternal incense might 
ascend upward forever. 

How consistent! to make an ofiering to the 
God of the religionist of the most abominable 
chemical production of his Satanic majesty's 
infernal laboratory. 

Leaving this part of the kingdom inferno, we 
proceed seven miles through a small tillable vale 
of land to the village of Lakeport, situated upon 
the margin of Clear Lake. The county was 
called Lake because of the numerous bodies of 
water coming to the surface, as if to fill the 
mouths of extinct craters. The town of Lake- 
port contains about two or three hundred inhabi- 
tants, is the county seat, has a new brick court- 
house, and a row of beautiful native oaks standing 



28 ovp:r the purple hills. 

ill the center of the streets. I think there are as 
many as thirty of these mighty shades along in 
one row, spreading their sheltering arms impar- 
tially over all who pass upon the street, as if 
bestowing a blessed benediction. Clear Lake is 
a body of water so exactly in appearance and sur- 
roundings like Washoe Lake, in the State of 
Nevada, that one feels as if viewing the same 
little American Galilee. A small steamer is in 
course of construction for navigating this lake. 
This body of water, which appears to the beholder 
to be about three miles in length, is in reality 
thirty-six miles, but winds its way tlirough the 
valleys and gorges of the mountains, so that it 
is ever reappearing when one is miles upon the 
road, like a beautiful face seen again after a sup- 
posed final parting. This country is very mount- 
ainous, with a remarkably fine climate, and is 
settled mostly with invalids. They are far from 
market, with surroundings so rugged as scarcely 
to be accessible to railroads. The consequence is 
the inhabitants feel poor, and talk as if hope- 
lessly resigned to this condition of things. I do 
not believe that it need be true of Lake county 



29 

that it shall never develop wealth because of not 
being an agricultural district. When its resources 
for rearing sheep, goats and cattle are fully 
known, we shall see that wealth can be produced 
from something besides wheat. 

In this route to Bartlett's the road takes a 
winding ascent over the mountains. As we pass 
we discover campers all through these hills, who 
have come to recreate for a time in the delightful 
mountain atmosphere. In a climate of such 
equality of temperature it seems absolutely neces- 
sary for its inhabitants to have a change of alti- 
tude, in order to secure the atmospheric elements 
supplied in other countries by the greater varia- 
tion of the seasons. It is surprising what an 
amount of physical exercise and fatigue one can 
endure when in a mountain climate, if the alti- 
tude is not too great. And how one will sleep! 
and sleep seems so refreshing. To me the mount- 
ains are earth's paradise. I would rather be a 
herder of sheep or cattle in this pure breath of 
nature's than live in a palace within the foul 
scented city, with its endless bustle and everlast- 
ing crash and din of commingling noises. It is 



30 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

no longer a wonder to me that these monnt- 
aineers cleave to their native hills until they 
become like wild men, in many respects closely 
resembling the flocks they attend. Many of 
them permit their locks to become an entangled 
mass, as inaccessible to comb or brush as the 
impenetrable shrubs of their own hills. How 
delightful from a.pulpit of rocks to declaim one's 
best productions to the wondering sheep and 
goats, and pour out sweet-strained music, to be 
encored by the ever appreciating echo of the sur- 
rounding hills. To descend with a sense of hav- 
ing discharged a duty to the masses, (of rock) 
and receive the congratulatory paw of one's 
faithful assistant. Bowser, who is clothed (if not 
for this occasion especially) in silken coat, with 
handsome fringe running from the tips of his 
beautiful ears to the point of his toes; then I 
am sui'e of the love of an humble, faithful friend 
in one of God's creatures at least. I expect 
much of humanity ; and because they fall so mis- 
erably short of these expectations I am inclined 
to feel for them contempt, and to seek compan- 
ionship in the lower order of creatures, who, if 



31 

thej are not intellectual equals, do not manifest 
the disagreeable traits of the inferior human 
animal. 

Bartiett's Springs are situated in the northern 
part of Lake county, upon a spur of the coast 
range. They are about forty miles east from 
Ukia and sixty from Colusa. Any one desirous 
of knowing the locality can easily find it by 
referring to the map of California containing the 
counties or the county seat towns. There are no 
settlements to speak of within twenty -five or 
thirty miles of this location, although stores and 
saloons may be found hidden away in some silent 
ravine, where excursionists, campers and strag- 
glers can procure almost any common staple, 
from whisky and tobacco to bag strings, paper 
collars and patent medicines. These springs 
were discovered to possess medicinal properties 
by the owner of the land, a mountaineer, by the 
name of Bartlett, who knowing the water to be 
sweet, pure and cold, came here when sick, as he 
supposed unto death, and camj^ed near them, 
expecting to lay his bones here, and that, too, in 
a brief time. This water he used for cooking. 



6j£ over the purple hills. 

drinking and washing. The results were that in 
a few days he began to improve, his rheumatism 
left him entirely, and he became perfectly sound. 
This discovery was made in 1869. Since then 
many have sought and fonnd relief in using these 
waters. The man, Bartlett, is said to be from 
one of the Southwestern States, is a person of 
excellent common sense, but with no other edn- 
cation than that acquired by the wild hunter 
and sheep herder in pursuit of a most primitive 
livelihood. Entirely unaccustomed to the asso- 
ciations of the wealthy or educated, he has very 
naturally formed strong prejudices against classes 
of human beings of whom he knows nothing 
scarcely, hence he utterly refuses to let this prop- 
erty pass into the hands of the capitalist who 
could make it one of the most desirable places 
of resort upon this coast. The property has 
been leased for a term of three or four years. 
For this length of time it w^ll not pay the lessee 
to expend anything for permanent improvements, 
so that the buildings that are put upon the place 
are of the most unsubstantial character, being 
built mostly of red wood shakes. There are 



about seventy-five of these structures upon a 
piece of table land where the springs come forth. 
Some of these cabins are accommodated with a 
chimney running up on the outside aft^r the 
manner of the chimneys in Southern States, and 
many families prefer to do their own cooking. 
The hotel is a long wooden structure, mostly 
dining room and porch, there being little room 
for lodgings, most of the boarders at the hotel 
lodge in the shake cottages. Myself and lady 
friend were shown to one of these cabins meas- 
uring eighteen by twenty, divided into four com- 
partments, and facetiously called the " Cliff 
House." We were soon installed in one of these 
quarter sections at ten dollars a head per week^ 
board included. When our trunks were placed 
inside there was only room enough for one chair, 
so it became necessary when both were at home 
for one to always be in a reclining position, as 
the bed was so high as to preclude the possi- 
bility of using it for a sofa. Our visitors were 
received upon the outside of the house where 
two persons could be seated at once upon a dis- 
carded apple box turned up side-wise. The bed- 
3 



34 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

steads were of the most simple possible structure, 
so loosely put together as to tremble and totter 
with the weight of one person ; thej were clear 
from bugs, thank fortune, and I never slept bet- 
ter than when at these Springs. We found the 
hotel table very well supplied with edibles, only 
in a few articles did the parsimony or small econ- 
omy of the proprietor manifest itself The pota- 
toes were so exceedingly minute as to really 
provoke mirth whenever they were presented. 
At last I ventured to ask where in the world or 
in California were those potatoes raised. He 
answered very meekly that they came from 
Colusa, a poor place for potatoes. This satisfied 
me for the time, as then I had never been in 
Colusa. I afterwards sj)ent two weeks in that 
town, and am inclined to believe the above state- 
ment a slander on Colusa, as I saw no insignifi- 
cance in anything raised in those parts. 

I think now that those vegetables were im- 
ported ; not a native of California at all. The 
milk was excellent ; indeed it might have been 
watered from Bartlett's spring without injury to 
the flavor, as this water is nearly as sweet as 



35 

maple sap. The water known as Bartlett's 
S23ring, boils up right at the foot of one of those 
stupenduoiis land bubbles which form these 
mountain ranges. It is clear as crj^stal, and too 
cold to take into the system until its tempera- 
ture is modified by standing awhile after being 
taken from the spring. There is not a sj^eck of 
anything to be seen in this water, neither ani- 
mate or inanimate. It has a sweetish taste, as if 
there might be an ounce of the best loaf sugar 
to three gallons of water. This is supposed to 
be arsenic. I did not see the report of a chemi- 
cal analysis, although I understand there has 
been one made, but not entirely satisfactory to 
the chemist himself. The most wonderful char- 
acteristic of this water is that it will not corrode 
metals. Tin is brightened by being brought in 
contact with this fluid, and iron lying in its out- 
let will not rust. Metals are made brighter by 
being infused in its waters. 

There is another spring known as the Bartlett 
Soda, lying a short distance from the spring ; 
this is strongly impregnated with iron, and every 
thing about it is colored with this sediment. 



36 OVER THE PURPLE HIIJ.S. 

The water produces the same stinging sensation 
made by drinking the manufactured soda. Near 
this spring is a huge, brown bowlder, standing 
out as if desirous of plunging into the table land 
lying below, and only prevented by some invisi- 
ble outside pressure. This rock has a history, 
which I w^ill relate as told me by a resident of 
the place ever since the springs w^ere discovered. 
An insane man of the harmless order of luna- 
tics was brouo^ht here to test the healing: waters 
upon the diseased brain. One day he was taken 
with a violent desire to commit suicide ; before 
preventive measures could be brought to bear, 
he had climbed to the top of this rock and taken 
a Sam Patch leap into the ravine below. He fell 
upor the mansineta and aside from a few scratches 
sustained no physical injury — scrambled out of 
the brush, and arrived at the hotel, a distance of 
a couple of hundred yards, a perfectly sane man, 
and has had no return of the symptoms of insan- 
ity since ; and this occurred three years ago. 

At the time I visited Bartlett's, about two 
hundred and fifty persons were upon the ground, 
mostly persons in moderate circumstances who 



37 

had come to be benefitted by the healing waters. 
The spring is covered by a small rough building, 
with two or three rude benches on the outside. 
Here twenty or thirty men may be seen sitting 
at all times of the day ; poor, forlorn, miserable 
looking creatures ; many of them victims of bad 
whisky, and its general train of results ; totter- 
ing and feeble in health, tattered in raiment, and 
shattered in hopes and fortune. Many of them 
are benefitted by these waters, and many a pallid 
face seen here can only be benefitted by the 
waters of eternal oblivion. Poor humanity, how 
I wish it had entered into the plan of divine 
economy to have made man with as much judg- 
ment about taking care of himself as the beasts 
seem to possess. These men linger hopefully near 
this spring, because in most instances too weak to 
walk tliree times a day back and forth from their 
cabins. They prefer the water fresh, but I am 
convinced that it is not as well taken into the 
stomach too cold. The efforts of this group to 
keep in the shade of the spring house, reminded 
me of the story of Eip Yan AVinkle, whom it is 
said crawled around a sliade tree with such lazy 



38 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS, 

precision that the time of day could be determ- 
ined by his attitude as accurately as by a sun 
dial. 

This is the class of sufferers who appeal to the 
sympathies of the original discoverer, and make 
him anxious to keep the place from those wlio 
would convert it into a fashionable resort. Some 
persons come and stay three or four months, 
while the hapless pleasure seeker, pampered with 
luxuries and entertained with amusements at 
home, generally leave at the end of two days, de- 
claring emphatically that Bartlett's Springs have 
no charms for him. There is not a thing in the 
way of amusements, unless it be one billiard 
table, and one poor suffering violin, brought here 
for treatment likely. There is not a swing, a 
croquet set, nor piano, nor shaded platform for 
dancing, speaking or concerts. There is, how- 
ever, in course of erection, a house to be used 
for such purposes, and it was with much discre- 
tion and forethought placed at a proper distance 
from the camp, so that the sick should not be 
disturbed with the sounds of revelry. This place 
is wonderfully silent. People with little surplus 



bartlett's springs. 39 

vitality have no strength to spend in making a 
noise. The wheels of business move slowly 
about — there seems less need of work or bustle 
when people are languishing between life and 
death, or waiting for the worn physical system 
to recuperate. 

I spent the fourth of July, 1874, in this place, 
and never since in the United States, did I enjoy 
the Nation's birthday as w^ell. 

Not a drum was heard, not a shouting note, 
Not a gun was fired from hill or moat, 
Not a cracker burned, not a rocket fizzled, 
Not a house was fired, not an engine whistled ; 
But thoughtlessly, carelessly, every one stirred, 
As if the birth of the Nation had never occurred 

Ailing horses are frequently brought to these 
springs and are said to be benefitted the same as 
the human family. One little dog and his 
{faithful) master attracted considerable atten- 
tion as they trudged past three times a day to 
visit the healing spring. The dog is a little blue, 
Scotch terrier, and came to this bustling world in 
1852, is consequently twenty-four years oj' age, 
about forty years younger than his kind and 



40 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

appreciative master, in whose interests and love 
he has always shared, and who are now^ grown 
old toofether. This man is a well-to-do old bach- 
elor, a native of the Son th western States, with 
limited education, bnt possessing much native 
shrewdness and a brave, kind heart. This canine 
has been his constant companion for years and 
been tlie recipient of the love and tenderness 
most men bestow upon their wives and little 
ones. He comes to this spring every summer 
with the understanding that his own health is 
perfect, but that Pinto's appetite is j^oor, and 
that he is in need of a change. One of the 
peculiar features of interest about this camp, is 
to contemplate the pile of w^ooden staves laid 
aside from the influence of this wonderful spring 
iij^on rheumatic invalids. When the thermome- 
ter rises to ninety-five or a hundred, the heat 
becomes almost unbearable in our little cribs of 
cabins, which are too traiisparent to form much 
of a protection from the merciless rays of the 
scorching sun. The ground upon which the 
cabins are located forms a kind of basin sur- 
rounded on all sides by hills which reflect the rays 



41 

ox heat, and when it is airj and comfortable 
upon these elevations, the heat upon the table 
land will be intense. Boughs were brought and 
placed upon the top of the ''Cliff House," and 
a little porch made and covered with green 
branches, and then it became necessary to hang 
up our blankets in front of the porch in order 
to screen our ejes from the glaring light and 
lieat which fell with such intensity upon the 
yellow sand. 

I came to the springs because afflicted with a 
peculiar form of indigestion, having a sensation 
after eating as if the stomach had been filled 
with a dry, hard substance, like gravel. This 
sensation would continue sometimes two hours, 
then disappear and the appetite be as good as 
ever for the next meal. AVriting or study aggra- 
vated these symptoms very much, and taking 
fluids into the stomach seemed to make it worse. 
The first experiment I tried was to wait until 
the sensation was fully established after eating, 
then I drank a pint of tliis water cold as it came 
from the spring. In a few minutes that sense 
of dryness had left the gastronomic department, 



42 OVER THE PURPI-E HILLS. 

and never returned during the nine days which 
I sojourned at the springs. When I left I took 
a jug of the water with me, and had no return 
of these symptoms while this lasted. When 
it was exhausted, I had to wait three days for 
another supply to reach me, and those symptoms 
returned ; upon using the water, they again dis- 
appeared. I will here say, if I had taken a like 
quantity of any other fluid after eating, it would 
have arrested the process of digestion and caused 
vomiting. This water acts as a gentle purgative 
upon the bowels ; seemed to quiet the nerves 
and produce a desire for sleep. I took a sound 
nap of an hour every alternate day, and that 
seemed to make no difference with a refreshing, 
dreamless sleep of eight hours at night. 

LEAVING BARTLETt's SPRINGS FOR COLUSA. 

At six o'clock A. M. July 12th, all was in readi- 
ness for a start, our load inside the coach being 
composed entirely of feminines of the following 
order: Myself and lady friend, two young ladies 
and two little misses. Was there ever such a 



bartlett's springs. 43 

number of pairs accidently brought together 
before? Two masculines were seated upon the 
outside, one as driver and the other as assistant. 
We were drawn by a team of four large mules, 
one unaccustomed to harness, and represented by 
the driver as a little wild. The road is new, nar- 
row and very rough. This, with the fractious 
addition to our locomotion, inspired the whole 
party with a sense of insecurity anything but 
pleasant. The coach tore away through a com- 
bination of manzanita, chaparral, greasewood, 
sage-brush and the bush of a thousand thorns, 
occasionally bumping us over a hard-head. This 
had the strange effect upon one of the party to 
cause her to relate the old story of Horace 
Greeley and Hank Monk. We had not gone 
more than tw^o miles, but I had in that time 
learned too much of physical suifering to raise a 
voice against this mental affliction, consequently 
bore it without a smile. When passing into a 
valley we were met by a couple of strangers, 
Missourians I should think, dressed in cure 
colored unmentionables, one carrying in his hand 
a canvas-covered ham, the other carrying a sack 



44 OVER THE PUEl'LE HILLS. 

of edibles upon his shoulder. These men caught 
sight of our party inside, and looked with un- 
shrinking gaze until the coach came opposite, 
and then they stood stark still and stared until 
the driver stopped the coach and said, " Gentle- 
men, do you want anything?" They never 
averted this gaze to see the source of the ques- 
tioning, but answered with a drawling '• N-o-o," 
as if in a study of too profound a nature to be 
disturbed with idle interrogations. The little 
girls tittered, the young ladies giggled, the 
matrons smiled, the assisting man grinned, and 
the driver "haw-hawed" right out. The man 
ahead informed us that they continued to gaze in 
wonder and astonishment until the coach was out 
of sight. "Well, did I ever! " was the generally 
expressed sentiment, and the circumstance was 
soon forgotten. It is a little singular, consider- 
ing how many robberies are committed upon this 
coast, that not one of our party screamed or 
thought of fainting. We did not have Wells & 
Fargo's box nor Uncle Sam's mail; only a load 
of females, a cargo often coveted, but seldom 
surreptitiously appropriated. 



bartlett's springs. 4J6 

Shortly after passing these wondering stran- 
gers, we came to pass a couple of gentlemen 
riding in a one-horse bnggy, drawn by a beautiful 
bay. Two handsome shepherd dogs followed on 
foot. This mountain road only provides half 
passes, and this party met our mule team where 
there was not even a half pass. The mules were 
driven into the bank, until, as if in anticipation 
of coming events, the}^ placed their ears close to 
their heads. The beautiful bay was reined out, 
and from the uneveness of the ground, fell floun- 
dering in the brush. The gentlemen in the 
buggy looked serene, as if perfectly confident of 
the success of mind over matter, finally con- 
cluded to descend and disentangle as far as pos- 
sible. A word of encouragement to the patient 
horse, and he lay perfectly quiet while the buggy 
was tilted up by hand and passed by our formi- 
dable hubs. Then the harness was loosed and the 
horse commanded to rise, which he did with the 
caution of a reasoning being. When once fairly 
on his feet, in the road again, was patted and 
praised for this exhibition of good sense, a 
method of treatment that horses well know how 



46 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

to appreciate. The two handsome dogs were on 
hand, lolling out their red tongues, appearing as 
much interested as any one of the party. In the 
meantime our mules danced and kept their ears 
in position for anything that might occur till the 
cracking of the brush ceased. I became so much 
interested in the extrication of the horse, the 
prancing of our own team, and the two dogs, 
that I found myself outside of the coach stand- 
ing upon the side-hill where the brush was so 
compact that I could not have walked a rod if a 
grizzly bear had been in prospect. I wonder 
W'hy drivers will always be so profuse in their 
advice to nervous women at such times, declar- 
ing, w^ith vehemence, that there is no danger. 
I belong to a class of women who have not 
unlimited confidence in the assertions of man at 
any time. Providing there is no danger, women 
frequently suffer more from fear and nervousness 
than they would, perhaps, if the danger was real- 
ized, and where is the economy in endeavoring 
to compel forbearance when the trouble of 
alighting will quiet all fears. After his passing 
event, we are again on our crooked and narrow 



47 

way. Presently the driver calls the attention of 
the party to a deer walking leisurly along. The 
mules prepare their ears; the children shout in 
surprise at the creature's indiiference. One of 
the men express a desire for a gun, while I enjoy 
the fact that he is not to be slain, as there is not 
the remotest chance for me to get a piece of his 
delicious carcass. Teams now^ frequently pass us 
upon the table lands; knowing the hour that 
the stage is expected, take this precaution in 
order to avoid the above mentioned scene. It >s 
a wonder to me that there are not laws enacted 
compelling every teamster to put bells upon his 
horses or mules while driving over these fearful 
mountain roads. The turn-outs seen in this 
remote region are so covered with dust that it is 
quite impossible to distinguish color. They 
prove to be mostly of the semi-civilized race, 
who emigrate from Missouri and Texas, wear 
the tan-colored unmentionables, and in many 
instances pride themselves upon their virtue, 
being too ignorant to sin. These people are in 
just the right stage of barbarism to accept the 
Catholic religion, and are surely better prepared 



48 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

for a patriarchial or monarehial form of govern- 
ment than to make laws for themselves in a 
republic. The Southern and Southwestern States 
are going over to the Catholic church in a body, 
with the understanding that Catholicism will 
some day overthrow this government. To the 
thinker this does not seem like very effective 
policy, inasmuch as the Protestant educates the 
brain of the masses, while Catholicism keeps the 
masses uneducated as far as in them lies, conse- 
quently the Protestant stands the chance of 
ruling over the Catholic even at a disadvantage 
in numbers. How queer it would seem to tliink 
of the French, Italians, Spanish, or Irish, as 
rulers over England, Scotland, Germany, or any 
of the Protestant races. Jnst here 1 will say 
that no race of people where the masses live on 
such food as "hog and hominy," can ever com- 
pete with those who have more range in diet. 
From what I am able to observe, I should think 
that a limited monotonous diet would cramp the 
calibre. Even the fairly educated among these 
people do not seem to possess the power of 
reasoning to any great extent, but are controlled 



bartlett's springs. 4:9 

by prejudices that would hardly be excusable in 
barbarians. Nations, let them be republican, or 
what they may, are culpable for the ignorance 
of their people, and must take their punishment 
for such neglect in crime, disrespect, prejudice^ 
and rebellion. How can a man have any respect 
for the institutions of a country where he has 
been permitted to grow up in such groveling 
ignorance as to be incapable of comprehending 
a sinMe advantao^e of its institutions over those 
of others? If the law of Christianity which 
commands man to love his neighbor as himself, 
had been observed or carried out consistently, the 
money sent to christianize the heathen in foreign 
lands, would have been given to the southern 
portion of our own country to educate the "poor 
white trash." These people have moved west- 
ward, ignorant as barbarians, and more prolific, 
and are raising up a generation of vipers little 
in advance, if any, of the native Mexican. The 
border ruffian, with others of that class of blood- 
letters, had mothers who took the same position 
in the family as the native Australian women or 
the wife of a North American Indian does, living 
4 



50 OVER THE PUKPLE HILLS. 

in the most primitive manner, performing the 
drudgery of the household without the advan- 
tages of civilization. Those that we meet are 
mostly performing pilgrimages to the springs 
for the purpose of regaining lost health. The 
shadowy teams, rickety wagons, loaded with 
household plunder, the scrawny women and 
numerous progeny, bring to mind the childish 
riddle of Saint Ives — As I was going to Saint 
Ives I met seven wives; each wife had seven 
sacks; each sack had seven cats; each cat had 
seven kits — kits, cats, sacks and wives, how many 
wei'e going to Saint Ives? I am not prepared to 
state whether the foregoing can be classed with 
conundrums, whether it is an example in mental 
arithmetic, an algebraic problem, or, in the lan- 
guage of our Anglo Saxon grandmothers, if it is 
a riddle; will leave the reader to decide. The 
road gets smoother as we progress, because it 
comes within the range of more travel. The 
mountain bree'ze is delightfully cool and fragrant 
from the perfume of vegetation. One variety 
of tree has shed its leaves in a mass; they seem 
to have all fallen at once, and lie perfectly undis- 



51 

turbed by the passing zephyr, enjoying their 
faded glory ; being exactly the color of straw. I 
thouglit at first sight that the straggling camper 
had emptied the contents of his primitive bed 
upon the hill-side, but upon closer observation 
it proved to be the leaves of a particular tree. 
The spreading oak is just putting out a new crop 
of leaves while the old ones are still fresh in 
their original beauty, giving this magnificent 
tree, a variety of shade from the pea-green to the 
darkest color of the oak leaf. The same tree in 
this country adapts itself to the climate, per- 
forming the office of regeneration in an entire 
different manner from what it does in a northern 
latitude. The team labors slowly up the moun- 
tain, descending with more rapidity, hence mak- 
ino^ about the same number of miles in the same 
length of time as they would providing they 
were npon the level. As we approach the plains 
of Colusa county a hot breeze occasionally passes 
over us. Some of our party venture the opinion 
that this simoon is manufactured upon a barren 
spur of the coast range lying between us and the 
great plains. These hills do appear perfectly 



52 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

terrible- with tlieir bare brown sides under a 
scorching July sun. We are informed that this 
heated breath comes from the j^lains beyond ; 
that it is not the province of mountains to manu- 
facture hot winds, as their very altitude makes 
that an impossibility. At the foot-hills large 
flocks of sheep are to be seen huddling together 
beneath the scanty shade of the now scattering 
trees. Poor things, how they must suffer from 
the heat of the scorching sun. The winds may 
be tempered to the shorn lamb, but the burning 
rays of old Sol never. The shepherds who atteiid 
these flocks are themselves a peculiar '' institu- 
tion," for a general thing showing less sense in 
their domestic concerns than that manifested by 
the field mouse. The people are not the owners 
of the flocks, only hired to do the work of taking 
care of the sheep that cannot be well entrusted 
to a dog. Their huts are bnilt between the hills, 
upon the hot sand, without the grateful shade 
of a sinorle twi^:. Of course these houses are 
only inhabited during the night, or sleeping 
hours, so that it does not make so much difl'er- 
ence. It is likely if there is a shade tree any- 



bartlett's springs. 53 

where near the shepherd will have the benefit of 
it. I have learned that it will not do to draw 
comparisons rashly, or to put too severe a sen- 
tence upon the modes of life adopted by those 
occupying widely d liferent 2:)laces in the plan 
of the universe. If a good housewife were 
at this moment to sit in judgment, or pass sen- 
tence upon the appearance of my room and 
wardrobe, it would take a great deal of explana- 
tion to correct the prejudices that might arise in 
the mind of a well regulated person who had 
never drawn upon her innocent imagination 
for the result of four years steady travel upon 
one's wardrobe and methodism in general. To 
one not acquainted with the peculiarities of this 
dry climate, it does not seem possible for sheep 
or goats to exist upon these apparently verdure- 
less hills; still we are informed that this is excel- 
lent pasturage. Hence the presence of these 
numerous flocks which are often driven miles to 
reach food when they have exhausted any par- 
ticular locality. In this seasonless climate the 
curing process is complete, the moisture of the 
winter rains being sufficient for a perfect growth 



64 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

of vegetation. The grasses stand upon the 
ground perfectly ripe and dry, containing all 
their original juices, having had no rains or 
dews to bleach them of their virtues. 

We now reach Colusa county plains. This 
area of land, fifty miles wide and two hundred 
miles long, is a dead level, and has the appear- 
ance of having been the bed of a lake or sea. 
This vast plain is converted almost entirely into 
wheat farms. Thousands of acres of bright stub- 
ble stands bristling in the glowing sun, for the 
wheat is all cut by the tenth of July. The 
numerous stacks seen in the distance suggest the 
idea of many villages composed of thatched 
buildings, and the mirage comes to make the 
illusion more complete, and many of the stacks 
are represented double, standing bottom upwards, 
or rather hanging top downwards. It is very 
strange how a little patch of sandy land, with a 
few weeds growing near, will look, with the 
helj) of mirage, exactly like a lake of water, with 
trees growing upon the margin, and one can see 
the shadows as plain as anything. Colusa county 
may well be called " the old bachelor's paradise." 



baetlett's springs. 65 

The dingy little cribs in which they live, without 
shade of tree, or other comfort, where there 
should be spacious farm houses, show clearly the 
absence of the refining influence of woman. 
And the fact that these farmers may be fre- 
quently seen studying navigation at the neigh- 
boring tap rooms is another evidence of a want 
of the vigilance of woman, who, if slie were 
here, could local-optionize the place and protect 
man, as he will not protect himself, from his 
manifold infirmities. Occasionally a sluggish 
stream finds its way across this level plain. 
Little birds, that appear to be lost, sit panting 
with uplifted wing, apparently without life to 
fly and seek a shade in the woods which are 
miles away. "Wlien we are so far at land upon 
this plain as to be out of sight of every thing 
except stacks and stubble, a scene presents itself 
as startling as it is novel. The road ran by a 
sink-hole, or a tunnel in the ground, about 
twenty feet across. This curious well was filled 
with muddy-looking water. Upon approaching 
it, ten or a dozen human heads are seen bobbing 
np and down upon its surface, in motion as if 



66 OVER THE PURPLE HII.LS. 

trying to dodge a missile. As one wonders in 
attending a meeting in the country where all the 
people can come from, so I exclaimed, " Where 
on earth, or upon this plain, did those men come 
from?" The farm houses are so small as to have 
escaped our memory, if they did not escape our 
vision. Our informant, the man ahead, says 
that these are farm hands who come here to 
bathe, as those little cribs of houses do not afford 
very extensive accommodations for its tenants; 
that every one of those smiling faces have a live 
body buried in the depths of this isolated well. 
This was indeed a rare sight — an oasis in the 
desert of stubble, without a tree or shrub to 
mark its whereabouts. There are tracts of alka- 
line lands upon this plain, that are useless 
for farming, and because of the long dry season, 
the dust becomes so dense upon the roads that 
the houses are built mostly as long way as possi- 
ble from the main road and reached by lanes. 
This, and the houses being so small, gives the 
country the appearance of being under cultiva- 
tion without the corresponding improvements. 
Another drawback to the country is the fact that 



^ 



baktlett's springs. 57 



the land is owned in very large tracts, being 
worked by tenants, men who have no families, 
and consequently not permanent, while the real 
owner, like the sheep owner, is living with his 
family comfortably in some town or village, 
perhaps city. All countries develop peculiar 
features to themselves because of the difference 
of the soil and climate. The real farm work can 
be performed in this locality by an irresponsible 
set of white Arabs because the climate is such 
that they can sleep out doors better than in the 
house, and they can mess together with a China- 
man for cook, and fare sumptuously with very 
little house room. The fences that were built 
before the "no fence bill" became a law, are 
mostly standing. There are in some localities 
wheat that would not pay for cutting; this 
makes excellent j^asturage, and the fences are 
convenient for this purpose. Still, much of the 
farming is done " out of doors," or without being 
inclosed. Although the heat of the sun upon 
this vast level would seem to be almost unbear- 
able, a cool breeze is constantly coming in con- 
tact with the breath of this great plain. This 



68 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

breeze is manufactured upon the Buttes, a short 
spur rising out of the plains upon the other side 
of the Sacramento river. Wherever these hills 
lift their towering heads thej gather a cooling 
breath to be sent on the wings of the wind to 
bless the heated plain lying below. The horizon 
is very brazen and the few white clouds which 
have strayed from their normal latitude seem to 
stand perfectly still, in motionless astonishment 
at the dried appearance of the thirsty landscape. 
July. 




STOCKTON. 

STOCKTON is situated in San Joaquin 
County, on San Joaquin Eiver; is a town 
of about thirteen thousand inhabitants; it now 
ranks third in the State, and bids fair to give 
race to Sacramento for the second, both in 
point of population and commercial interest. 
Stockton is now one of the largest wheat mar- 
kets in the world, being surrounded by produc- 
tive wheat growing valleys; vast quantities of 
this commodity are stored in the city, waiting 
for shipment or an advance of prices; it is con- 
veyed to San Francisco, from thence it goes 
forth to all the civilized nations of the earth, to 
supply the demand for California's superior 
bread stuffs. It would seem to be policy for the 
Californians to take advantage of their remark- 
(59) 



60 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

ablj early liarvest season, and get their wheat to 
market before other m-ain o^rowino^ countries 
came in for competition; thus save the trouble 
and expense of storage, with its multij)licitj of 
risk, besides having the use of the monev. In 
climate Stockton is much like Sacramento, damp 
and malarious winters, and pretty hot summers; 
although neither place is considered really un- 
healthy, this is the tendency if disease lingers in 
the system at all. Persons troubled Avith what 
is know as billiousness will seldom prove better 
in health from either of these localities. My 
comparisons between Stockton and Sacramento 
reminds me of the story of the man with three 
sons, who had only three pieces of property to 
divide between them : " The eldest son he gave 
the mill, the second son an ass, the youngest 
son, poor liiftle Mat, must be contented with the 
cat." San Francisco gets the railroad mills and 
the supi-eme court mill, while poor Sacramento 
must with the State house be contented-o. 
This reminds me of another silly little story of 
the bees who made a contract with the humming 
bird to find them with honey. They gave their 



STOCKTON. 61 

legs, their wings, and pollen basket, and when 
they nothing more to give the humming bird 
flew away and left the bees to starve. This is 
the way that Sacramento has been treated by the 
Union Pacific Eailroad Company. Stockton has 
the county seat, it has also the asylum for the 
insane, being the second son mentioned in the 
old man's legacy. There are two large found- 
ries, three tanneries and one woolen mill. The 
blankets manufactured at this mill are not sur- 
passed in the State. A paper mill is also in 
active operation, where a superior quality of 
heavy wrapping paper is manufactured from tule 
hay; and they are now experimenting, with a 
prospect of making a fine quality of printing 
paper of the same material. There are three 
dailies published here, one being edited by a 
woman, and I will say that the gentlemen sliow 
themselves not only gallant in their liberal pat- 
ronage, but prove by their conversation and 
deportment to be prond of this living evidence 
of strongmindedness. Stockton is also a city of 
magnificent distances, it seems to spread all over 
San Joaquin county; this may be a slight ex- 



025 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

agge ration. Tlie difficulty is partially overcome 
by a one-horse railroad, which appears as endless 
as an unwonnd skein of yarn. The steel, as the 
English say, stretches I cannot imagine how far 
over the endless plain. In a desperate attempt 
to see the end of this road, I backed out of the 
neat little car long before the end was reached 
or visible, for fear that I should not be able, 
for some hours, to find my lodgings again. 
This city has its share of Christian churchs, 
nearly all denominations being repi'eseiited ; 
forming nurseries for the growth of individual 
opinions, and the development of individual 
character, thereby preventing any class from 
tyrany by too great concentration of power. The 
church buildings are fine gray edifices, and only 
need a little ivy to cover their dusty walls to 
give them a cool and really attractive appearance. 
The church bells are remarkably sweet and 
musical. For the last five years I have scarcely 
heard the same church bells for three consecutive 
Sabbaths, consequently have formed the habit of 
giving thought to the music of the bells as one 
forms an opinion upon the tones of the different 



STOCKTON. 63 

pianos we hear. Saloons flourish in this city as 
thej do in everj town and village of this beauti- 
ful State. The handsome proprietor and dash- 
ing gambler walk side by side, both excellent 
specimens of humanity, judging by outward 
appearances; and, indeed, they seem to possess 
hearts and brains like other men, but have likely 
been demoralized by their mothers or some other 
woman; of course the blame must be placed 
upon the shoulders of some poor defenseless 
female, whom it seems as if providence, in its 
wisdom and mercy, had made as a kind of pack 
horse for the sins of frail unfortunate man. Then 
there is the blear-eyed whisky bibber, who, with 
strong drink, has literally cooked the albumen 
forming the brain, until he might as well be in 
possession of a leather brain for all the use it is 
to him. Wretched human creatures, in many 
instances as offensive as a mano^v dos:, and with 
less capacity for self preservation. 'No wonder 
the women of the nation have been led to cry 
aloud in anguish of spirit to our Father in 
heaven, that he may care for their sons and keep 
them from the curse of intemperance. I am 



64 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

Biire if men felt as raucli ashamed of this mons- 
trous curse as women do, that petitions would be 
placed in all the prayer books, to read as follows: 
Lead us not into the temptation of strong drink. 
Deliver us from whisky and it baneful results. 
Keep us from the temptation of treating and 
being treated; from the society of the dissolute, 
and from the evils consequent upon losing ones 
self respect. Spare us the ill will of those who 
should bless our memory. Finally, save us from 
the shame and grave of a drunkard. Amen. 
September. 

the state insane, and the asylum. 

The asylum for the insane is situated about 
half a mile from the city of Stockton, and is a 
very attracti\e looking retreat, being surrounded 
by beautifully cultivated grounds. White fences 
running away through the dense shade give it the 
appearance of a grand old park. There are two 
separate buildings upon the grounds, one for the 
male, the other for the female department; they 
are located some distance apart; both are built of 



STOCKTON. 65 

red brick. The male department has been stand- 
ing twenty years or more. The walls are cov- 
ered with green ivy and creeping vines, forming 
a fine contrast of colors with the red brick. The 
walks are also of red sqnare brick, the color 
heightened by frequent washings, for they are 
kept scrupulously neat. The shade of the front 
yard is so dense, that, upon entering from the 
warm, sunny street, one is liable to take a chill, 
as from the air of a subterraneous cavern. Every 
thing about the interior of the building appeared 
cleanly and wholesome. Many of the inmates, 
in the habit of living at the wretched hotels in 
this State, have made a change for the better. 
I learned from tlie superintending physician 
that the insane are not so much more numerous 
in this State than in others as has generally 
been understood. This institution takes the 
place of a State almshouse to a certain extent, 
there being no poor houses except in San Fran- 
cisco. In this way each county places its j^oor 
at the expense of the State unless they are sick; 
in that case the county hospital is provided for 
them. There are many at the insane asylum 
5 



^Q OVEK THE PURPLE HILLS. 

"wlio are only feeble minded, and some idiots 
who cannot be cared for at home are bronglit 
here; many of these in other States would be 
taken to the county house. Thus, the number 
reported insane in this State greatly exceeds that 
of others of the same population. The mountain- 
eers or early miners of this country, who have never 
made homes for themselves, as age creeps on and 
they get unable to work, must be cared for by 
the State. This is one particularly sad feature 
of the settlement of this country. Men who left 
their homes in the East more than twenty years 
ago, many middle aged at the time, nearly all 
with the hope of bettering themselves pecuni- 
arily, and of returning or of sending for their 
loved ones when able. Some have found the 
years rolling on and only bringing disappoint- 
ment, until their children in distant lands have 
grown to man's and woman's estate, with scarcely 
an idea of the existence of a father, and with no 
appreciation of his love or struggles for them. 
Many have heartlessly deserted their little ones 
and left them to the fates, or to be brought up 
by the wretched mother, with all the disadvan- 



STOCKTON, 67 

tages under which women labor, physically, so- 
cially and politically. 

There is nothing that will sadden and harden 
the young heart more than the realization of 
being deserted, in helpless infancy or inexperi- 
enced youth, by those who should have been its 
protectors. It is bad enough for grown people 
to live in the world unloved and friendless, but 
what a sorrow to the heart of the nnsophisticated 
child! Yerily, these men have their reward! 
Being deprived of the society of one's children 
while they are young is a loss which no human 
heart can well afford ; and the older one gets the 
more dependent they are upon the young for 
entertainment and societ3% aside from the com- 
mon dependencies of a physical nature. The 
society of " Old Pioneers " is an association that 
will benefit some, but many are too far gone to 
seek protection from organized charity, and must 
end their days in public institutions. There is 
something in this apparently indulgent climate 
that seems to make men reckless. They can live 
so close to nature without being persecuted by 
Jack Frost, that if they once get a sniff of 



68 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

mountain air or a taste of wild life, a certain per 
cent, will turn barbarians in spite of all former 
ties. I have seen them when thej had lost 
nearly all resemblance to a civilized human 
being, and appeared more like an old mangy 
dog than like a man. I am inclined to think 
man more dependent upon woman for manhood 
and general usefulness than women upon men, 
notwithstanding my education to the contrary. 

Old women will generally keep themselves 
tidy and clean, and old maids are proverbial for 
their neatness. The men about the insane asy- 
lum look cleanly and appear contented; all ages 
are represented. In the male department I saw a 
toddling infant about a year old; I do not think 
it was a crazy baby, although it was an inmate 
of the institution. The female department is a 
fine large structure, the grounds and improve- 
ments comparitively new, but very promising. 
I approached an elderly gentlemen who was 
watering the garden, and remarked that " I 
hoped, in time, to see the grounds about the 
female department looking as well as they did 
about the male department. That we women 



STOCKTON. 69 

were growing very watchful and fearfully jeal- 
ous." "Bejabers," said he, "women have no 
more rights nor men. I likes to see Avomen 
keep in their proper places; I don't go a cint on 
these strong minded women; not a cint." Said 
I to him, " I am a strong minded woman and 
you have got to stand it; I do not care a cent for 
weak minded men who presume to venture an 
opinion upon a subject which they cannot possi- 
bly comprehend; and I am going to run for 
Congress, and you will have to stand that also." 
At this unexpected disclosure, an indulgent 
smile of admiration lighted up the countenance 
of the Hibernian. He had met with such 
prompt and spirited opposition that it struck 
him as being very ridiculous that he should be 
sparring with a lady visitor, and also an aspirant 
for Congress, and in spite of his severity he 
wished me success, and hallooed out as I was 
disappearing, " Good luck to you, miss, be jabers, 
good luck to you." This was without doubt 
satire, but what of the braying of a donkey, 
whether he pays his compliments or calls for his 
oats, it sounds the same and is void of reason or 



70 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS, 

articulation. There is scarcely a day of my life 
that I am not reminded of the growth of arro- 
gance, fostered by an atmosphere of political 
and consequent social injustice. The masculine 
barbarian is at liberty to fling the unmeaning 
cant of social prejudice in the face of the most 
intelligent person in the land, if that person 
should chance to be a woman. If men could 
reason with sufficient clearness to understand 
that these expressions arise from overrating 
brute force, and underrating other and more 
important virtues, they would get ashamed to 
give utterance to such shallow and proverbial 
canting nonsense. Why should man set him- 
self up as a dictator over his betters when he 
has nothing more to recommend him than sex, 
or the fact tliat he is a male biped? Suppose 
some illiterate old washerwoman should ad- 
vise Henry Ward Beecher, or any priest or 
minister, as to liis place in society, and his 
duties in tliat particular sphere. How ridiculous 
it would seem. There is not a demented old 
scrub of a woman in America but that would 
exercise better sense. 



STOCKTON. 71 

There is nothing that will make a class of 
people appear more idiotic than to have more 
power than they are justly entitled to, and be 
permitted to manufacture their own reasons 
without fear of contridiction or criticism. I 
have learned, by the observation of years, that 
few men possess the capacity to reason; being 
controlled almost entirely by their instincts, and 
many times those sunk lower than the brute by 
every conceivable selfish abuse. A woman's 
intuition will tell her the difference between a 
cultivated man and a boor, while the ignorant 
man measures all women in one half-bushel, as 
a donkey would his turnips. A donkey would 
not have the least idea that turnips could grow 
for any other purpose than to fill his individual 
half-bushel, or that of some other donkey's. 

x\s I approached the apartment for women, I 
could hear a pleasant hum of little noises pro- 
ceeding from the grated windows, like the sound 
of numerous birds in a cage. Woman will talk 
even when sick. This is partly owing to the 
fact of her having no real business life or busi- 
ness education, as men have. It may be partly 



72 OVER THE PURPLE HIIXS. 

constitutional, but I do not believe it. "When 
men go out into the world to do for themselves, 
thej learn silence from many necessities, for fear 
of giving offense by expressing themselves too 
freely, and because business cannot be transacted 
and the mind distracted at the same time with 
conversation. Where women are educated to 
business habits or literature, they despise as 
thoroughly small talk, shallow twaddle, and 
vulgar inquisitiveness as a corresponding class 
of men do. The only objectionable feature that I 
observed about this institution was the cemetery 
unpleasantly near the female department, in sight 
of many of its windows. This was located 
before the female department was planned ; has 
fifteen hundred interred therein, and is too near 
for such unpleasant associations. I suppose in 
due course of agitation cremation will become 
fashionable, and then this place will be summer 
fallowed and sowed to barley, and the barley sold 
to the distillers to be used as food for city cows, 
in order to increase the rates of infant mortality 
and to propagate insanity. Alas for Dio Lewis 
and all his plans! This little comparison is 



STOCKTON. 73 

much like the way society is tinkered up. All 
well enough, all well meaning; but while we are 
watching the enemy upon one side of life's 
enclosure, he creeps stealthily upon us from 
some other point. The human family seem like 
a vast growth of vegetation, so many doomed to 
die early, some to be blighted but still cling to 
life, some to be crushed beneath unscrupulous 
feet never to rise again, and all eventually return 
to the common mother earth, and there be re- 
solved into the primitive elements. Death must 
be as much a blessing as any part of the won- 
drous plan, and the fear or dread of it only a 
protecting instinct. 

As I passed around the institution, an elderly 
woman called from an upper window: "Good 
morning, lady." I returned the salutation, and 
would have been pleased to have held a confab 
with her, but reflected that this would be violat- 
ing a rule of the institution, and walked away 
with a feeling that the unfortunate are fortunate 
in some respects, by having a place of retirement 
where they may recover and go out to some use- 
fulness and happiness, or remain and wear out 
shattered nature until she sinks to eternal rest. 



NAPA. 

NAPA, the county seat of Napa county, is 
delightfully situated — far enough from the 
6ea to escape the chilling ocean winds, and of 
sufficient altitude to have a fine, clear, bracing 
atmosphere. There are heavy dews at all seasons 
of the year, and persons seldom take cold in its 
healthful climate, but going into San Francisco 
will give almost any outside resident a cold in 
the head, or upon the lungs. There is something 
in the humid air of the city that will cause most 
persons to do some vigorous sneezing before 
they learn to watch the necessities of the body. 
Napa has about three thousand inhabitants. Its 
surroundings are hilly and beautiful as a wall 
hung with fine paintings of landscape scenery. 
In a ravine where the public reservoir is located 
(74) 



NAPA. 75 

are masses of rock standing like a grand old 
castle in dignified decay, as if gazing with silent 
contempt npon the more perishable portions of 
the mighty structure. A family of Scotch peo- 
ple living near, with their flocks and herds, have 
christened these towering peaks " Scott's Craig," 
and say that it resembles Sterling Castle in 
Scotland. The waters of this ravine are impris- 
oned in a reservoir and watched by these har- 
dened old sentinels, which stand guard in such 
an attitude that it would not be surprising if 
one craig should lose its balance and tumble 
over to the entire destruction of every perishable 
thing upon its downward course. There is much 
grape-growing and wine-making in this valley, 
as well as other industrial enterprises. I visited 
Wordard's wine-making establishment, and found 
at work about fifteen foreigners of various nation- 
alities en£:ao^ed in makino- wine. I interroorated 
one of them as to the probability of his tiring 
of the sameness of his occupation. He answered 
in broken English that he was " born m wine," 
and knew nothing else. A portion of this state- 
ment I had no reason to doubt. In this cellar 



76 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

there is about fifty thousand gallons of wine, the 
most aged being five years old. Napa has two 
tanneries in working order. B. F. Sawyer & Co. 
work in about three hundred sheepskins in a 
day and one hundred deerskins. This is made 
into glove leather, leather for linings, etc. The 
wool from this tannery forms quite a feature in 
the business; it is pulled, washed, dried and 
sold in the Boston market for forty cents per 
pound. Wheat is extensively raised in this 
county, as well as everything else needed for the 
comfort and sustenance of man and beast in a 
semi-tropical climate. I was much interested in 
seeing a boat loaded with this commodity from 
a warehouse. These boats run up a river known 
as Napa creek, which empties into San Pueblo 
Bay. All these rivers and streams in the vicinity 
of the ocean are afiected by the ocean tides, the 
waters usually being very brakish from the close 
proximity to the sea, and shallow when tide is 
low or out, and high enough for simple naviga- 
tion when tide is in. While one of these little 
crafts was being loaded, a dear old mother cat and 
two half-grown kittens were lending their assist- 



NAPA. 77 

ance. The removal of a bag was watched with 
the greatest possible interest, and woe to the 
mouse or rat that was unhoused in the presence 
of these faithful servants. I was told that they 
work all day with the men as diligently as any 
hand in the building. 

A branch of the insane asylum is located at 
Napa. Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars 
were appropriated by the State Legislature in 
1871. The last session tliere was another appro- 
priation of six hundred and thirty thousand dol- 
lars. The building is not yet finished and more 
money must be voted before it can be. It 
would seem for so young a State as California 
that she is going to a vast amount of expense to 
build public institutions for future generations. 
Considering that there is a mighty national debt 
caused by the calamities incident upon war, 
one would think that in all wisdom this State 
would forego for the present the building of 
expensive structures until the wealth of the 
country was more fully developed and there was 
a larger population to stand the tax and to share 
the expenditure. An unhealthy love of display 



78 OYEK THE PURPIJi HILLS. 

has taken sncli a hold upon the people of this 
comity that it is as apparent in their public as 
private lives. There are many worthy institu- 
tions in San Francisco which are suffering: for 
want of means while we have a State house, an 
insane asylum, and a city hall that would do 
credit to the oldest and most densely populated 
State in the Union. Iowa legislated for her 
industrious population in a very plain brick 
building, which cost less than many a private 
residence; and not until they were clear of debt, 
and had a surplus fund in the treasury, did they 
talk of a new State house. Property in California 
is taxed at its real value, while in the North- 
western States it is taxed at but one-third its 
value. These large tracts of land held by specu- 
lators, by some political chicanery escape taxa- 
ation almost entirely. It is an indisputable fact 
that the mass of people in this State are much 
poorer than in the older or Western States. 
There is not the thrift among them, they are too 
heavily taxed for the amount of wealth develoj^ed, 
and these expensive institutions sap the life from 
the living industries of the country. The branch 



NAPA. 79 

insane asylum at Napa has an appropriation of 
two hundred and eight acres of land. The build- 
ing is much larger than either of the departments 
at Stockton. The brick used in this structure is 
made upon the ground. There is a patch of clay 
upon a neighboring place of which the brick is 
made; and, strange to say, this purpose will 
exhaust the material, and there is no more to be 
found for miles around. The brick cost nine 
dollars and seven and a half cents per thousand. 
The basement is made of stone, a material to be 
found in abundance in the foot-hills. A fine 
stone for ornamental j^urposes is manufactured 
upon the ground ; Freer's patent is used. The 
sand of which this stone is composed is brought 
from England, being used by wheat vessels as 
ballast, as they go hence heavily laden and return 
comparatively empty; and as there is no further 
need of this ballast when the vessels come into 
port, they dispose of it at a very low figure, and 
it is mixed with Portland cement, placed in 
wooden forms, and made any desired shape or 
size, as we would mould butter. Those beautiful 
caps for doors, windows, and cornices, are made 



80 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

in this way, and when dry are solid, to all appear- 
ance, as the natural granite from the hills. The 
asylum is built in sections or wings, and will 
have seven round towers made fire-proof, and 
placed in certain angles, so that in case of con- 
flagration the destroying element could not 
spread to the adjacent parts of the structure. 
These towers, besides giving an air of magnifi- 
cence to the entire edifice, will be used for ele- 
vators. There is a chapel for religious worship, 
and an elegant billiard room adjoining. This 
structure is four stories in height, is heated with 
hot air, and the water coming from the mountain 
reservoir has sufticient head to reach the upper 
stories with surplus force. It is well ventilated, 
and provided with screens for the doors and 
windows, so that insinuating insects cannot 
enter. The culinary and laundry departments 
are separate from the building, connecting with 
the main part by an underground railroad or 
tunnel. The only thing about the plan of this 
institution that I did not indorse was the fact 
that the cemetery is located upon the same 



NAPA. 81 

ground and inconveniently near. This is a fear- 
ful oversight which the committee should rectify 
before too late, unless they anticipate the age of 
cremation. The white stones of a cemetery 
point downwards as well as upwards, and persons 
Buffering physical and mental infirmities can 
scarce afford to have these ghostly reminders 
constantly in sight. 

Notwithstanding that Napa is a beautiful place 
and has so many natural advantages, the people 
seem lacking in gentlemen to serve the county 
as officials. The district attorney is a most piti- 
able creature, who expressed himself as fearfully 
jealous of the subject of woman's anticipated citi- 
zenship, and mentioned Susan B. Anthony as "a 
superannuated old hag." It is evident by those 
who comprehend the subject, that nothing but 
power will command respect. I am daily assured 
by the language of the usurper that if women 
remain quietly submitting in all things to the 
will of the master that she shall be respected. 
No woman with any sense worth mentioning, 
desires to be respected upon such conditions; we 
6 



82 



OVER THE FCJRPLE HILLS. 



intend to chose our own modes of commanding 
respect; power will always bring tliis; and while 
man may be venerated for being the larger 
animal, woman should be respected for the 
balance of political power. 
November. 




LAKE TAHOE. 

LEAYI:N'G Colfax by the freight train, I find 
myself once more passing through the Cen- 
tral Pacific's lengthy snow sheds. With the 
return of spring portions of these structures 
are removed in order to prevent the spread of 
fire, and the builders seem to have made use of 
a variety of plans, as no two tiers of shedding 
appear to be constructed after the same. In 
passing one plan of construction, the sun comes 
pouring through a thousand apertures, striking 
the train wliile in motion, giving it the appear- 
ance of being showered with golden sun balls, 
sparkling like falling rockets. In another plan 
the sun strikes the train in a rapidly moving 
checkerboard, and the efiect is really quite won- 
derful and very pleasing. One must ride in the 
elevated seat of the caboose of the freight train 
(83) 



84 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

in order to view this novel feature of the snow 
sheds. While the train stopped to water, I 
alighted to see a cinnamon bear, tied in an 
enclosure at the station. Upon the wall near by 
there hung a huge parrot cage covered by a gun- 
ny sack, and upon the sack was written in large 
letters, " This cage contains a monstrous Red 
Bat, of an hitherto unknown species, discovered 
and captured upon a lofty peak of the Sierra 
Nevada mountains." As a matter of course I 
wanted to see the great Eed Bat, but did not dare 
lift the gunny sack for fear the creature might be 
vicious, so I walked into the office of the hotel 
and requested the polite, handsome clerk to show 
me the Bat. He seemed delighted to be of the 
least service in a matter of scientific interest ; 
his countenance fairly glowed with the pleasure 
of serving, as he thrust his pen over his ear 
and strutted out. I 'had never seen a hotel clerk 
more radient, and thought to myself if these 
fellows only knew what an adornment politeness 
is to hotel clerks, they would wear more of it 
and less jewelry. I was so overcome by this 
unusual display of suavity, that I had a great 



LAKE TAHOE. 86 

mind to order my baggage off the train and stay- 
long enough to study the singular phenomenon 
in the person of the clerk. By this time we had 
reached the cage. The gunny sack was carefully 
raised that I might not suifer a nervous shock at 
the first sight of the monster. I placed my 
hands securely under my bustle and peeped cau- 
tiously in, when to my horror and surprise there 
was nothing to be seen but a piece of red brick 
with a string tied around the center, and it sus- 
pended in the middle of the cage. The whistle 
blew and I hurried aboard the train without even 
stopping to thank the handsome clerk, although 
I managed to wave my hand at him through the 
window, and to receive in return the smiling 
adieus of quite an audience of spectators, and 
without doubt sympathizers, for they had all 
peeped under the gunny sack. But upon mature 
reflection, I rather enjoyed the joke, although it 
was a little wicked. 

Tourists stop over night at the Truckee Hotel, 
and the next morning take the stage for a ride 
of fourteen miles to Lake Tahoe. This route 
like those at the Yoseniite, is so finely shaded 



SQ OYER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

that the drive is like passing through an elegant 
park. The sugar pine is missing here, it does 
not condescend to live only in certain localities. 
The foliage of these evergreens stand so luxuri- 
ently against the clear blue sky, that they appear 
more like carved work, heavy mosses, or trim- 
ming loaded with heavy green beads, than simple 
foliage. In this altitude, the weight of the 
winter snows bend the young limbs, giving them 
the appearance of having just divested them- 
selves of this extra weight, leaving them with a 
peculiar Lapland grace. The edges of the boughs 
are pushing out fresh leaves, consequently the 
limbs are fringed upon the extremities with a 
light shade of the most delicate green. The 
atmosphere is perfumed with the medicinal fra- 
grance of the elecampane and mountain sage. 
Occasionally there may be seen a yellow butter 
cup, bending low to touch the limpid waters of 
the running rivulet. 

The stage driver upon this route is an intelli- 
gent specimen of the Jehu fraternity as one 
often meets; his name is Adams, a decend'ant, 
without doubt, of old father Adam. Many were 



LAKE TAHOE. 87 

the places of interest he pointed out, and his 
anecdotes were related with a tenderness of senti- 
ment that caused mv eyes to water occasionally, 
notwithstanding I had my sun glasses along with 
me. A dark, lonely ravine, overshadowed with 
pines, was pointed out as having a sad history 
associated with it. A man came here and located 
a piece of land, built him a hut and lived in her- 
mit like isolation. At last his means were 
exhausted, discouragements came, and in a fit of 
insanity he committed suicide. An acquaintance 
walked two or three miles to see him, owing to 
his frame of mind when last out, and found him 
lying ui^on the floor, with a ball through his 
head, and a pistol at his side. The poor fellow 
was not yet dead, and when questioned as to who 
did it, answered that he did not know who did. 
His condition was such that nothing more intel- 
ligible could be elicited, and as he died shortly 
after, it is supposed that he did not know what 
he was saying. His answer caused some uneasi- 
ness as to whether he had not been murdered 
by some other hand than his own. A coroner's 
inquest was held and the jury decided that it was 



69 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

a case of suicide, and the body was taken to the 
Hot Spring Hotel, and from there buried upon 
the banks of the beautiful Tahoe. Pitying hands 
have placed a rude paling about the little mound, 
and the lofty pines lower their heads and sigh 
mournfully above it. The grave of this poor 
suicide occupies a more conspicuous place than 
did the living man, and will probably be the sub- 
ject of more heartfelt sympathy and interest, 
even from the pleasure seeking tourist, than the 
last resting place of many a celebrated hero. 

A few rods futher on is another mound enclosed 
with a painted paling. This is the grave of a 
consumptive who came from his home in the 
East, hoping to be benefitted by the climate; 
but in his case nature had given up trying, and 
he requested to be laid upon the banks of Tahoe, 
preferring the sunny hill side of the Golden 
State for his last sleep, to the frost bound home 
of his childhood. Adams gave me the benefit 
of several anecdotes, two of which I will relate, 
as the disposition of the narrator is so very 
apparent in both. 

There was an old man camping in these woods 



LAKE TAHOE. 89 

and he owned a donkey, which appeared to be a 
veteran also. The two had just returned from 
an expedition in quest of supplies. The donkey 
was tied to a tree while the owner busied him- 
self gathering faggots for the camp fire. A 
hunter came stealing softly down the hill and 
caught sight of the donkey's back, and thinking 
it was a grizzly bear, drew his rifle and shot the 
poor creature through. The donkey was not 
killed dead, and it is said that it could be heard 
to roar at an almost incredible distance. The 
old man was nearly frantic, not only at the pecu- 
niary loss which he was poorly able to bear, but 
from the death of a creature that had been his 
faithful servant and only companion for years. 
When the hunter came to learn his mistake, his 
feelings can better be imagined than described. 
He paid the old man for his donkey, and earnestly 
requested that nothing be said about the matter, 
as he was a candidate for some political office. 

As to the other story, Adams was himself one 
of the express company. Several men had set 
out upon an expedition over the mountains, 
taking pack animals, intending to spend a few 



90 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

days in the o].")en air. There came a heavy fall 
of snow, and the campers were detained until 
they run short of provisions, and there was some 
danger of their perishing before they could reach 
a settlement. They had among the pack animals 
a young gelding donkey. The creature was a 
short-legged little dump, very fat, with a remark- 
able amiable disposition, and a great pet by all 
who knew him. He was called Little Jim, and 
it was found quite impossible for the short-legged 
little creature to keep pace with the other ani- 
mals in the deep snow, although he would hold 
his own wonderfully with an ordinary chance. 
His pack was removed to the back of another 
animal, and he was led in the trail made by the 
rest, and everything done to equalize things; but 
there was no use, the train were obliged to stop 
often for Little Jim to come up, or he would 
have been left hopelessly behind to perish in the 
snow. When the men had been without food for. 
two days, and the prospects were that two more 
might elapse before a settlement could be reached, 
one of the company, more desperate than the rest, 
proposed that they kill Little Jim and make 



LAKE TAHOE. 91 

Bteak of him. At iirBt the men cast sidelonfir 
glances at one another, as if ashamed of the 
thought, and at last commenced to discuss the 
matter. After listening to an argument in which 
Jim's disabilities were ablj set forth, the owner 
gave a sorrowful consent that the creature should 
be slain to save the lives of himself and com- 
panions. They cast lots as to who should fire 
the shot that was to bring Jim to his death, mer- 
cifully excluding the name of the owner, as he 
said that he would never raise his hand to take 
the life of a creature that he had fed and reared, 
and that placed unlimited confidence in him. 
This excuse was accepted, and poor Little Jim 
fell by the hand of another. Said the narrator, 
I could see a change come over the countenances 
of the men the moment they heard the crack of 
the rifle, as if this was indeed a desperate meas- 
ure. They skinned the hind quarters of the 
donkey and cooked it like steak, declaring it to 
be the sweetest, tenderest, juciest meat that they 
had ever eaten, far surpassing tlie steak of beef; 
and to this day they still assert that their preju- 
dice in favor of donkey beef was certainly not 



92 OVER THE PURl'LE HILLS. 

entirely the results of ravenous hunger. Mj 
narrator here added that they all felt like mur- 
derous cowards for killing Little Jim, and that 
the comforts of justification only came to their 
relief by a consciousness of this measure having 
saved their lives, for it was tw^o days more before 
they reached the settlement. Alas, poor Jim! 
and I brushed a tear from my glasses as we 
drove up to the Hot Spring Hotel. 

The people came out of the house en masse to 
greet the new comers. Among the members of 
the household w^as a dear little fawn, about two 
months and a half old. It seemed to realize the 
fact that it had some new acquaintances to make 
or that it had discovered an old one in my buck- 
skin gloves, for I was not long in finding out 
that the creature had not been weaned. A tourist 
stopping at the hotel had a couple of very fine 
dogs, one an Italian greyhound, the other a black 
and tan. These dogs would weigh about five 
pounds apiece, and w^ere understood to be ''heavy 
dogs." Tan was very fond of chasing the fawni, 
always taking the lead in every enterprise, wdiile 
the hound w^ould follow any example. For a 



LAKE TAHOE. 93 

while the chase was nice sport, and the fawn 
seemed to enjoy it as well as the dogs. At last 
it became annoying, and the little deer would 
seek refuge beside some one, as if soliciting pro- 
tection. She was standing by my side, watching 
the movements of the dogs with much apparent 
anxiety, and I said, "Fawny, wdiy don't you 
strike the dogs with your feet," (at the same time 
making a gesture,) " that would make them keep 
quiet." I had hardly finished speaking when 
Tan came up, barking furiously, expecting the 
deer to run, w^hen to my astonishment the fawn 
leaped forward, striking the dog a hard blow with 
her little sharp hoof. Those wdio saw it were 
both amused and surprised, for the hotel propri- 
etor said it was her first attempt at self-defense, 
and it appeared as if she had taken my advice 
instantly. Tlie fawn looked about as if she 
thought that was just the right thing, while the 
poor sensitive little dog was evidently the most 
astonished and humiliated creature living. As 
everybody laughed, he did not seem to exi3ect 
any sympathy, and lay down where he could 
keep an eye upon the creature whose graceful 



94: OVEK THE PUEPLE HILLS. 

movements had so delighted his little dog's 
heart; and the glances which he cast about 
plainly showed what he was thinking of, and 
when any person spoke to him he licked his little 
foot in silence, still looking at the fawn as if he 
could not believe his senses. The two dogs never 
after offered to give chase to the fawn. 

!N^ow for the first time I walk out upon the 
wharf to take a look at the matchless waters of 
Lake Tahoe. I can only express myself in 
exclamations. The water is so clear that one can 
see to the depth of fifty feet any object that is 
visible at that distance in the open air. When 
at a distance from the lake I had not been much 
impressed with its superiority over other bodies 
of water. To be sure the green, purple, blue and 
white lines were rather wonderful; but one must 
get acquainted with this delightful sheet of water 
to appreciate it. The lake is thirty- six miles in 
length and fifteen in width; lies partly in the 
Golden and partly in the Silver State; is literally 
cradled in the Sierra J^evada mountains, six 
thousand four hundred feet above the level of the 
sea. All along the northern shore there are 



LAKE TAHOE. 95 

springs of boiling hot water coming to tlie sur- 
face, containing lime, magnesia, sulphur. The 
hot baths are delightful, the water possessing 
just the requisite properties for cleansing both 
the cuticle and all kinds of clothing. One comes 
from the bath as white and pure as a new kid 
glove. Notwithstanding these hot springs, which 
can be seen boiling up between sheets of melted 
lava, the body of the lake water is extremely cold. 
'No animal life exists except that which is indi- 
gent to northern latitudes. There are plenty of 
trout, whitefish and salmon trout, I am told. 
The trout do not stroll about alone, but are 
always seen in shoals. A finny community of 
these graceful fishes is one of the most beautiful 
sights associated wdtli these transparent waters. 
The water is so clear from foreign substance, so 
cold and void of insect life, that it is a wonder 
how the fishes manage to subsist. No vegetation 
is seen growing in any part of this lake, the 
bottom being melted lava or rocks. Dead fishes 
are occasionally seen lying upon their backs, 
showing no signs of decay. Nearly all the fish 
seen dead are about the same age — two years 



96 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

old. Since trout farming has become a business 
it»is an easy matter to understand the age of a 
trout by its size. I am wondering if the trout 
cut a new set of teeth, or develop fresh fins or 
gills, that tax their vitality at a certain age, caus- 
ing unusual mortality among them. The fish 
farmers ought to know. 

There have been thirteen human lives lost 
upon this water within a few years ; not a body 
has ever been recovered. It is supposed that, the 
water being so cold, no gasses form, and the 
bodies are preserved, never rising to the surface. 
Upon this lake there is a beautiful little steamer, 
of sixty-four tons burden, drawing about three 
feet of water. This boat wears the brand of the 
Central Pacific Railroad, as nearly everything 
does upon the Pacific coast, being called the 
Governor Stanford. At eight o'clock every morn- 
ing this steamer leaves Hot Spring wharf for 
Tahoe City and all the points of interest upon 
the lake. The day I took passage quite an event 
occurred, and as said event w^as productive of no 
immediate serious results, of course it caused 
much amusement to the spectators. A tourist 



LAKE TAHOE. 97 

from San Francisco, entirely unaccustomed to 
the water, and ignorant of the philosophy of 
navigation, jumped from the wharf into the stern 
of a small row boat; of course the boat shot from 
under the astonished landsman, and left him 
splashing in twenty feet of transparent water. 
The man could not swim, and was rescued by the 
bar-keeper of the place, who it seems has another 
mission besides that of mixing mint juleps and 
cocktails. The ambitious tourist retired from 
sight amid the plaudits of the spectators, who of 
course were congratulating him upon his timely 
rescue, not making sport of his foolhardy enter- 
prise. In a reasonable length of time a gentle- 
man's outfit could be seen dangling in a limp 
manner from one of the dormer windows in the 
hotel. 

From Hot Springs to Tahoe City the distance 
is nearly ten miles, and is a most enchanting 
voyage. The water is so clear that it is impos- 
sible to detect the surface except by the ripples 
made by the steamer, or in case some foreign 
substance should chance to be borne along on the 
surface; and leaning over the side of the steamer 



98 OVER THE rUKPLE HILLS. 

gave one the impression of being propelled 
through the air. The boat was not heavily 
loaded, and seemed to glide npon the surface like 
a bird. The agitation caused bj the movement 
of the boat made a most charming picture, giving 
the steamer the appearance of being trimmed 
with white and pearl-gray lace upon a deep blue 
satin background, thickly spangled with silver 
buttons. The water is blue as indigo where it is 
over a hundred feet deep, and green as a piece of 
beautiful green silk where it is only fifty and 
seventy-five feet. "Where the green and blue 
waters join a line of the most delicate purple is 
the result; and the reason the beautiful tints are 
so fine and distinct is because of the water being 
so perfectly pure. No person can conceive or 
imagine the perfection of color and its Avonderful 
beauty without first beholding it. There are 
places which are known as beyond the soundings, 
where the water is so deep that exquisite blue 
and violet is turned to a blue-black, and is called 
tlie black waters. "Where the water is fifty feet 
deep we are shown the coral beds, so called from 
their resemblance to coral, but really beds of 



LAKE TAHOE. 99 

pumice stone, which have been for ages subject 
to the action of volcanic fires, and at last settled 
down, been overcome by another element, become 
the bed of a lake which is decidedly cool; and 
when earth's changes shall drain Tahoe of its 
crystal waters, it will leave something such a 
valley as Yosemite, minus, however, the, grand 
rocky formation of that valley. The shadow of 
the smoke coming from the steamer could be seen 
at the depth of fifty feet as plainly as if it had 
fallen upon a board walk. 

Thus far I have been so enchanted with the 
waters of this- lake that I have entirely over- 
looked the surroundings, almost forgotten that it 
had any; but it lies in a fairy land, being enclosed 
in an unbroken chain of hills covered with brown 
and fringed with mountain pines. The distance 
around the lake is about one hundred miles; but 
at intervals all along the shores are public houses, 
giving accommodations to the tourist in a variety 
of locations. There are stage lines, post-ofiices 
and telegraph lines in all directions. Beautiful 
women and children, in gay dresses, are seen 
playing croquet, swinging, and participating iu 



100 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

all manner of outdoor games, fishing and hunting 
pebbles, for there are no little shells to be gath- 
ered on these shores. The angle worms used for 
bait are brought from Chicago, and sold to the 
sporting tourist. 

In this faultless climate there are no storms 
of wind or rain, nor intense heat to prostrate or 
interfere with one's j)lans by the day, week, or 
for the summer campaign. The woods are alive 
with people camping out for the benefit of the 
mountain atmosphere; and many avail them- 
selves of this sight-seeing who could hardly stand 
the trip as taken by the tourist, with the expense 
of public locomotion and that of living at hotels. 
It certainly takes cares outside of climatic influ- 
ence in California to create in man a compen- 
sating wretchedness. 

In our steamboat route we pass a place known 
as Emerald Bay. Here, in one view, the blue 
water, the violet and the most exquisite green, all 
come before the sight in rotation. It seemed to 
me that the waters of this bay, and the hiUs 
around must be peopled with spirits, faries, or 
some unearthly beings. One realizes that this 



LA.KE TAHOE. 101 

lake lies near heaven; it is the only way to 
satisfy the imagination in regard to its unearthly 
colors and indescribable beauty. Ben Halliday 
has a summer residence upon the banks of these 
fairy waters, and here an old sailor made a grave 
and built a tomb for himself, and to show the 
uncertainty of things in this life, even in death, 
he was never buried at all, but lost at sea. 
Beyond this point of interest there is a bluff 
rising perpendicular from the water's edge three 
or four hundred feet, and the water is said to be 
a hundred feet deep at its base. Crossing over 
from Emerald Bay to this bkiff is termed span- 
ning the Rubicon. Just around one point there 
is standing a rough stone image, which a little 
stretch of the imagination will convert into a 
grizzly, sitting on his haunches, with paws 
drooping. This image certainly bears more 
resemblance to a grizzly than it does to a don- 
key, and in return for politeness rendered me 
once upon a time, I propose to call it Governor 
Stanford, after the little steamboat of that name. 
Here the whistle of the steamer was sounded 
that the passengers might listen to the echo. 



102 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

Further on we were shown a cave, a singularly 
conspicuous formation, standing with its entrance 
very properly toward the lake. It stands alone 
at the foot of the hills, upon the bank, as if for 
the convenience of water; is a mass, I should 
think, seventy-five or a hundred feet in height, 
having the general outline of an old-fashioned 
mud oven; the entrance is shaped like the mouth 
of an oven and is said to lead to a room thirty 
feet deep. Some of the gods may have done 
their baking in this locality while planning the 
design for Tahoe and experimenting upon its 
exquisite colors. At Glenbrook, a lumbering 
point, the steamer ties up for the night. Here 
we fully realize that this beautiful lake can be 
desecrated by practical uses. Logs are made into 
rafts and floated upon its limped waters; mills 
are built upon its banks; hard-handed laborers 
w^ork about its fairy precincts, looking like any 
thing but angels, although they may become 
such when they lay off their buff-colored over- 
alls and being baptized in the purifying waters 
of Tahoe; it may be so, I decline to be their 
judge. In this altitude there is frost every 



LAKE TAHOE. 103 

month in the year; the consequence is that few 
persons will make permanent residence, as noth- 
ing but cabbages, potatoes, and such vegetation 
as frost does not injure, can be raised with any 
degree of certainty. The snow falls very deep 
in winter, although it is not cold, but the time 
is coming when many of the hotels will be kept 
open all winter as the population increases and 
there is a demand for winter resorts for invalids, 
for tlie air of this region is as pure as its waters. 
1 tarried for the night in a comfortable country 
hotel, situated in the edge of a delightful forest 
of pines, and took the little steamer at seven in 
the morning, and at eight had made the round 
of the lake and returned to Hot Spring Hotel. 
Here I learned that another tourist had fallen off 
the wharf while experimenting with a boat and 
was rescued by the same man. This made three 
persons — one boy of nine years, and two men 
who had taken a plunge-bath in one week from 
the same point, and all rescued by the little bar 
tender, who is known as " Shorty." If this man 
keeps on in this way he certainly should receive 
a medal from some organization of a humanita- 



104 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

rian nature. The society formed for preventing 
cruelty to animals should recognize him in 
absence of any other; for man is certainly an 
animal, and at times manifesting sufficient 
greenness to almost be claimed as a vegetable. 
This water is so distilled from all foreign parti- 
cles that it is extremely light, making it difficult 
for swimmers to keep up, and the lightness of 
the air in this altitude may have something to 
do with the difficulty of swimming. Logs, tim- 
ber, boards, and corked bottles go to the bottom. 
There is a rumor to the effect that the railroad 
company intend some day to tunnel the moun- 
tain at this point to save the vast yearly expend- 
iture for snow sheds. If this tunneling is ever 
accomplished, it will be an easy matter to con- 
duct the waters of Lake Tahoe to the cities of 
Sacramento, San Jose, and San Francisco, fur- 
nishing them with the best water in the world. 
Then an extra pipe could be laid from the Hot 
Springs, thus giving them water for cleansing 
purposes that if properly used would cleanse the 
dirty pool of politics. Sacramento would have 
occasion to rejoice, San Jose to be more exquisite, 



LAKE TAHOE. 105 

and San Francisco to be glad, as this prepared 
water would make a wonderful saving in soap, 
besides giving unlimited means of purification. 
These cities could then have public baths, so that 
the poorest paid laborer would have an oppor- 
tunity to cleanse his cuticle, and grow in purity 
of character in proportion to personal cleanliness. 
The "Muldoons" and "Hoodlums" would then 
come into the presence of his honor, the police 
judge, with clean faces, and society would be 
revolutionized for the better. When all this is 
brought about by the money and enterprise of 
the Central Pacific Railroad Co., I am ready to 
forgive them for being a powerful grasping 
monopoly. 

FISH FARMING AT LAKE TAHOE. 

Pingel, Morgan & Hurly are the names of the 
men composing the firm engaged in the business 
of pisciculture at Tahoe City. This is compara- 
tively a new business, and the public must be 
interested in anything written upon this subject, 
at least until it is better understood. As this 
lake lies partly in the State of California and 



106 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

partly in Nevada, those States have passed acts 
protecting the fish, making it an offense to catch 
them with seins at any season of the year. 
Farming companies are however permitted to 
draw them with the sein for their spawn, return- 
ing the fish uninjured to the water again, as will 
presently be understood. The first of April the 
male fish starts up the tributaries, it is supposed 
to find a suitable place for the female to spawn. 
The fact that the male goes first to prepare the 
way was ascertained by the first hauls that were 
made proving mostly male fish; of course they 
produced no spawn and it was found upon experi- 
menting that the fish must be caught later in the 
season in order to obtain equal numbers of both 
sexes. A little later the male returns to the lake, 
takes his mate, and the two start off together, 
continuing their course up the stream until the 
water is so shallow that they can barely live. 
Here the female deposits the spawn and the male 
passes over it, leaving the semen. It is said that 
the male defends the eggs, gallantly fighting, 
and doing his best to keep away the villainous 



LAKE TAHOE. 107 

fishes which always follow these pilgrims on 
purpose to eat the spawn. 

Who taught the little fish the way 

Her finny course to steer, 
To search out inland cove and bay, 

And guard her young with fear? 

The sein is spread at the mouth of the strea\fi 
to catch them as they are going up, and they are 
captured by thousands. They are then placed 
in a creel, made of slats an inch in width and 
half an inch apart. This creel is shaped much 
like a large coffin, having a little trap door at the 
top. The fish are taken from the net and put 
into the creel, which lies partly under water. 
This is then brought alongside a small pier and 
the fishes taken up by a scoop-net and put into 
a pail. Here the females are squeezed until they 
emit about a hundred of their eggs, and the 
males are served the same, emitting a small 
quantity of semen. The fishes are then returned 
to the lake to resume their propagating pilgrim- 
age without injury or further interruption. The 
vessel containing the spawn is permitted to 



108 OVER THE PUEPLE HILLS. 

stand a few minutes, being once stirred about; 
the impregnation is then complete, and the eggs 
are placed in shallow troughs six inches or a foot 
in width and ten feet long. These boxes are 
placed upon an inclined plane and covered by 
shedding, thus shading them from the sun. The 
coldest water to be obtained, even ice water, is 
permitted to trickle over the spawn until thej 
are hatched. The exact time which it takes the 
eggs to hatch I did not ascertain. The age of 
fishes can now be obtained as accurately as any 
other creature. Seventy -five per cent, of the 
eggs are hatched by this process. The colder 
the water the longer they will be in coming 
forth, but the hardier. Fishes hatched in warmer 
water are not as liable to live. When first 
hatclied the minnows are about half an inch in 
length, as lively as crickets, and for several days 
they carry upon their backs the belicose sack, 
w^hich looks like a beech tree bud when it first 
begins to swell in the spring of the year. The 
creatures appear wonderfully funny, moving 
rapidly about with a little pink sack upon their 
backs. When leaving the spawning boxes they 



LAKE TAHOE. 109 

are pnt into another small trough of running 
water, and kept for a few weeks; then placed 
into deep ponds ten or twelve feet across, where 
they are able to hide from the sun. The trout 
is eminently a cold-water fish, seeking the deep 
shady nooks and quiet pools of the coldest 
mountain streams. The fishes of one pond are 
all of one age; this precaution is necessary to 
keep them from eating one another. The trout 
is a rascally cannibal; having a great mouth he 
can swallow a fish nearly as large as himself. 
They are fed with finely minced meat, and it is 
a very nice sight to see them jump and scramble 
over one another like chickens, when coming for 
food. They manifest as much intelligence as 
birds do, and the keeper said he became very 
much attached to them. The keeper had a little 
scoop-net with which he touched the Avater; 
they thinking there was food came once, but 
could not be deceived again, for they did not 
come out until there were pieces of meat visible. 
At seven weeks old they are little over an inch 
in length; at one year old they are about six 
inches; at two, eight; at five years old, fifteen 



110 OVER THE PURPLE HII.LS. 

inches in length, and quite a fish, weighing two 
and a half or three pounds. Judging from the 
size, many of these fishes live to be ten, fifteen 
and twenty years of age. This fish farm is 
about five years old, is a success financially. 
The fishes are sold for supplying aquariums; 
also for food. Many tourists, ladies and children, 
think it a very nice thing to go a trouting, and 
for a consideration they are permitted to try 
their skill at angling in these ponds. The fishes 
are so tame that they can be scooped up in 
numbers with the hand net. The white fish is a 
pleasant feature of these ponds. Those that I 
saw were about a foot in length, of a light trans- 
parent gray color, with beautiful bright silver 
dots upon their sides. The white fish has no 
cannibalistic tendencies; he is a scavenger, grub- 
bing at the bottom of the pond for his living. 
He has a small round mouth, projecting like 
the snout of a pig, and surrounded with a carti- 
lageous ring something like the rooter of the 
swine, and two little fins appear about where the 
ears should be, making him look still more 
piggy, and to complete the resemblance, he 



LAKE TAHOE. 



Ill 



actually roots the dirt upon the bottom as he 
passes along, champing swineishly. The waters 
of Tahoe are so transparent that its inhabitants, 
the fishes, might as well live in glass houses. 




COEAL OK ALABASTEE CAYE. 



THIS natural curiosity is situated in Eldroado 
county, nine miles north of Auburn, the 
county seat of Placer county. This cave was 
discovered the 18th of April, 1860, by some 
workmen who were excavating in the side of the 
mountain for a lime kiln. Soon after its dis- 
covery it was visited by Starr King, and a party 
of several persons from San Francisco. Starr 
King offered up a prayer from the natural pulpit 
thus dedicating it in a Christian like manner to 
the general jDublic. At first it was called Coral 
cave and the register appeared with this heading, 
but it seems that Alabaster is preferred by the 
natives, for the latter has succeeded the former, 
so that it is generally known as Alabaster cave. 
The floor of the cavern is very irregular and 

(112) 



CORAL OR ALABASTER CAVE. 113 

miiddj, making it necessary to wear rubber over 
slices while exploring. About fifty candles are 
cut in two, lighted, and placed upon niches and 
boards upon the floor in order to give the neces- 
sary illumination. A large looking glass was 
also placed at the entrance where the sun could 
strike it and the reflected light was thrown upon 
some of the most prominent objects. The whole 
cavern is about three hundred feet long and a 
hundred in width in many places, still the difler- 
ent compartments are as haphazard as one would 
expect in a natural excavation. In some parts 
it is so low that one is obliged to stoop very 
much in order to pass, in other places it is ten or 
twelve feet to the roof, and in two or three instan- 
ces the roof terminates in a tunnel or funnel', 
resembling a chimney, but not running up a 
sufticient distance to open the ground at the top. 
Tliere are places where the roof seems to be 
ceiled or inlaid with marble, striped all one way, 
and with a wonderful variety of colors, and as if 
the cracks or joints appeared about two feet apart. 
There are rows of flue stalactites forming a fringe, 
partaking of the same variety of colors as the 
8 



114 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

marble ceiling. In a dim light one can fancy 
that it is ornamental papers cut and placed in 
rows as they are seen in restaurants for fly screens. 
In some places beautiful stalactites, shaped and 
colored like tallow candles, hang from the roof 
and remind me forcibly of the days when our 
grandmothers dipped candles and hung them in 
some out of the way room to dry and harden fit 
for use. Some of these, judging by the tint, 
seem to have more beeswax in them than oth- 
ers. Many of them were shaped like a carrot, 
and some exactly the same pale yellow color; an 
exquisite shade of bufi* when examined by sun 
light. Some, from a composition of iron, are 
tinted with pink. All are dropping tears of a 
chemical preparation, though not profusely. 

There is one beautiful object known as Mrs. 
Lincoln's pocket handkerchief. It is suspended 
from the roof like a napkin held in the center, 
showing two of tlie corners. There is a line 
looking like a wide hem, and the whole is as 
white as a wax lily, and the angles are so perfect 
that it has the exact appearance of a very elegant 
handkerchief. There are not many stalagmites 



CORAL OR ALABASTER CAVE. 116 

in this cayern. Those that are to be seen are 
formed in himps looking like sheep, lambs, or 
animals in repose. 

The celebrated pnlpit is a hnge lump of the 
dripping chemicals, stalagmitic in formation, 
situated upon a side elevation, and a dark buff 
color. The corrugations occurring in most of 
these objects, gives them the appearance of hav- 
ing been carved or turned in a lathe. There is a 
singular formation which appears like a beef 
heart hanging upon a wall. The yellow flakes of 
tallow usually accompanying the fresh heart of 
a beef, are upon this object as if it were a work 
of imitation in art. It is to be regretted that 
this beautiful curiosity in nature cannot be pro- 
tected from vandalism. Its stalactites are broken 
off and carried away ; nearl}^ every cabinet on 
the Pacific coast has a specimen, thus robbing 
the public of a rare and wonderful treat in the 
line of natural curiosity. 



Auburn, the county seat of Placer county, is 
a lovely little place of about fifteen hundred 



116 OVER THE PUEPIJi: HILLS. 

hundred inhabitants. Is located half a mile from 
the Central Pacific Railroad. It is more enchant- 
ing because of its hillj site, its wonderfully 
healthy climate and dense shade, than from its 
architectural beauty. The streets are as uncer- 
tain in their angles as those of the town of 
Monterey. The thoroughfares were never laid 
out in either of these places, but just grew from 
circumstances. I have a wonderful liking for 
these mountain towns — they may not be as well 
for money making operations, but they are more 
peaceful and quiet than the valley towns. The 
inhabitants are fairer in complexion, the fruits 
are finer in flavor, the flowers are more fragrant, 
in fact they are nearer heaven than the valleys, 
and while we tarry out of paradise, there is no 
better place to live and breathe than in these 
mountain towns of the Golden State. 




GOmG TO INTO THE YOSEMITE 
7ALLEY. 



HOW TO VISIT THE VALLEY TO ADVANTAGE. 

IT^IKST, purchase your tickets of parties most 
popular in business. The railroad company 
are reliable and responsible, and as they run 
nearly everything in this State, must have a 
share in the pecuniary interests of the Yosemite. 
In getting your ticket have a fair understanding 
placed in writing; for if one fails to mention 
the fact that guides are to be furnished, extra 
charges will be made in the valley. This little 
matter has caused much annoyance among 
tourists; finding that they had paid the price, 
including guides, but not having the fact stated 
upon the ticket or in writing, were obliged to 
pay extra. There is nothing right or just about 
(117) 



118 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

this mode of transacting business, but it is what 
some business men term " smart." It is hardly 
passible for all men to respect themselves too 
much for such contemptible trickery in business. 
The route and time for reaching the Yosemite 
Yalley are as follows: The Oakland boat leaves 
Broadway wharf at four o'clock p. m. ; after a 
trip across the bay you take the train and reach 
Lathrop's at eight o'clock, here fifteen minutes 
are allowed for supper; distance from San Fran- 
cisco eighty-two miles. The hotel at this place 
is owned by the railroad company. The Thomp- 
son brothers, having full control, do everything 
to please during the limited time one remains; 
then change cars for Merced; this is the Yisalia 
division of the Central Pacific Railroad. This 
branch is completed to Calienta, a distance of 
two hundred and forty-one miles from Lathrop. 
At Merced remain over night. The hotel here 
is owned by the railroad company also; is a 
large commodious wooden building, at present 
kept by a pig-headed proprietor hardly capable 
of taking charge of a canal boat, who is so afraid 
of offending people and losing custom that a set 



GOING INTO YOSEMITE VALLEY. 119 

of riotous tourists are permitted to come in and 
take possession of the house, to sing and tear 
around all night, while their hunting dogs are 
kept in the bed-rooms howling a mournful ves- 
per for the benefit of persons who are to ride by 
stage sixty- eight miles next day. If a traveler 
has a mind to take the responsibility of saying 
to them that they shall be arrested for disturbing 
the peace, he may possibly get an hour's sleep 
to prepare him for his journey the day following. 
Many have owed to the incapacity of this hotel 
proprietor the fact that they were not able to 
" do " the valley after reaching it. 

Stages leave the town of Merced for both the 
Mariposa and the Coulterville route; the Mari- 
posa daily and the Coulterville tri-weekly. Six 
o'clock in the morning is the time for starting. 
It is best to go by the Mariposa route and return 
by Coulterville, as it gives one just so much 
more variety. May or June are the best months 
for visitins: this wonder in nature, because of the 
tails which are made and sustained by the melt- 
ing snows upon loftier peaks. The valley may 
be seen with pleasure and advantage at almost 



120 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

any season of the year, but many of those beau- 
tiful falls fail during latter part of summer. At 
present the people can only complain of the lit- 
tle clap-traps organized to get money out of the 
traveling public. I, for my part, see nothing 
wrong in the private enterprise of building roads 
and making trails about the valley, where a 
small toll is charged. It is certain that this 
thing would not have been accessible to the pub- 
lic for some time yet, but for the individual's 
hope of making something. It will be some 
time now before the State really wakes up to the 
fact of having this valley to take care of; and 
etill some time before it will work intelligently 
as to the needs of the public. The lands are 
leased for the purpose of raising a fund, and it 
is to be hoped that some firm, strong, rustic 
bridges will be constructed across its numerous 
streams; that the roads may be bought of indi- 
viduals and made free that guides may be 
paid a salary, the same as the guardian of the 
valley; that the hotel accommodation shall be 
such that tourists or invalids may remain any 
length of time they may choose, instead of 



GOING INTO YOSEMITE VALLEY. 121 

being rushed in and out of tlie valley as if the 
object was to pick their pockets and let them go. 
A person going from San Francisco into the 
valley needs about a hundred and lifty dollars; 
it may not take more than one hundred and 
twenty-five, but the first mentioned is the least 
one should think of doing the valley with and 
stay a week or ten days. It consumes a whole 
day to visit any one point of interest in this 
valley of tears and trickling water-falls. This 
chapter is written upon going in by the Coulter- 
ville route. We pass through several miles of 
wheat fields and much fine country under culti- 
vation, and cross the swollen river Merced by a 
ferry. The first place for dinner after leaving 
the town of Merced, is Lebryghts, a pleasant 
home where the climbing roses blossom by the 
door, and we are treated to a bountiful dinner 
at the price of fifty cents. Most persons can 
digest but indifferently when traveling rapidly 
over these roads in a public conveyance. The 
exercise is too violent for successful assimula- 
tion, and a system of fasting is at once imposed 
upon one. Some invalid food can be used to 



122 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

advantage, such as Imperial grannum, rice, or 
corn starch, something easily digested; for with 
many a regular sea-sickness prevails, and still it 
is wonderful what delicate persons can endure in 
this mountain air. If one is out of doors much 
it is almost impossible to be troubled with 
illness. Many persons visit this valley with 
their own conveyances and camp out for weeks. 
It is a nice way to do providing one gets help to 
perform the physical drudgery of camp life, for 
there is business enough to give a tourist all the 
exercise he will desire to take in "doing" the 
valley. In the afternoon we reach Coulterville, 
an interesting mountain town of about fifteen 
hundred inhabitants. The style of architecture 
attracted much attention in this place, the build- 
ings being nearly all constructed with the low 
broad gable roof. The material varying from 
stone, brick, wood, and adobe. The hotel, set in a 
side hill and crowned with a cupola of green lattice 
work, making it appear like an amateur picture 
in water-colors. Here we stop but ten minutes, 
and a boy comes with a box of tarantula nests 
for the edification of tourists. These nests are 



GOING INTO YOSEMITE VALLEY. 123 

gold for fifty cents a piece, and are indeed a 
cnriositv. Tliej are constructed in a hole in the 
ground, upon the sunny side of some barren 
hill in a mountain range. These perforations 
occur as frequently as holes in a pepper-box 
cover. The nest is composed of adobe soil, being 
about four inches in length and one in diameter, 
the outer wall of the little house having a wind- 
ing crease like a miniature tower of Babel. The 
entrance to the nest is a kind of trap-door with 
hinges, and a way to fasten it on the inside. A 
little dot marks the place for the latch-string, so 
that the tarantula need not go blundering around 
to find the key-hole. The inside of this wonder- 
ful structure is lined with a beautiful material 
unknown to the world of commerce, but resem- 
bling the short delicate fur of the white mouse. 
The tarantula himself is an ugly looking crea- 
ture, notwithstanding his architectural inge- 
nuity. He belongs to the spider family, in fact 
is a kind of grandfather spider. His body is as 
large as a robin's egg, some are larger, with legs 
and arms to correspond, and short black hair, 
standing upright all over both body and legs. 



124 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

This creature makes a web like other spiders, or 
may be contracts with a smaller specimen of the 
spider race to weave for him, as each nest has a 
covering like mosquito bar veil, or wire door, to 
prevent foreign substances f]-om falling into the 
top of his nest, which stands slantwise upon the 
side-hill. This web is made large enough to 
admit the creature at the sides without tearing 
it, and may serve the double purpose of a net to 
ensnare flies for food. The tarantula likes a 
warm climate; in comfortable cool weather he is 
seldom seen upon the promenade, spending most 
of his time in his study. When tourists desire 
to see one, they take a pitcher of cold water and 
pour it through the net-work at the opening, 
and the pompous looking creature will appear as 
promptly as some corpulent old gentleman who 
had been disturbed by the rudeness of malicious 
little boys jerking the door-bell while he was 
taking his after-dinner nap. The tarantula is 
no coward, but with his fussy motion, demands 
an explanation as much as if he were an injured 
individual and could speak. These creatures are 
frequently called from their retreats, lured into 



GOING INTO YOSEMITE VALLEY. 125 

an open mouth bottle and preserved in alcohol 
as a curiositj. Fighting tarantulas is quite a 
pastime with some tourists ; two or three of them 
are placed in close quarters and they will bite 
one another until both die of poison. The grati- 
fication of this amusement lies in the fact that 
they destroy each other. For a general thing 
their bite is little more thought of than the 
sting of a wasp, but persons in this State have- 
been poisoned to death by their venom. 

Whisky is the antidote ; perhaps this is the- 
reason that its bite is not feared much by the 
residents, a large proportion of the popula- 
tion being in a perpetual state to resist the bite 
of spiders or reptiles. We leave Coulterville 
thinking it a pretty quiet jDlace; nice as a resort 
for invalids needing a change of air. As we- 
ascend tlie mountains we catch views of snow 
capped peaks and occasionally see rocks near at 
hand, having such a mixture of white quartz, 
that we are led to think that they are patches of 
snow also. As night approaches, the mountains 
in the distance suggest to the imagination the 
far off promised land. The sun sinking upon 



126 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

the snow clad peaks, the tinted clouds, theniyste- 
rious points and depressions may pass for the 
spires and domes of our Father's house where 
there are many mansions. As old Sol sinks to 
rest the whole scene becomes so glorified one 
can easily imagine the unfolding of the pearly 
gates of Paradise; still, a purple atmosphere veils 
this better land, covering it with mystery that 
hope sighs to penetrate, and this keeps urging 
on. In a certain altitude, the pretty manzanita 
shrub appears with its smooth brown bark and 
rich foliage. The fruit, a berry about tlie size 
of large pea and shaped exactly like an apple, 
is often called the manzanita apple. The vege- 
tation is much the same upon this route as upon 
that of the Mariposa. The same growth appear- 
ing at certain altitudes. The first night out we 
stop at a place called Dudley's Mills, an oasis in 
the rugged mountain, abounding in fruitful 
greenness, a little haven given for the rest of 
weary tourists. It was some such place where 
Bunyan's Christian Pilgrim rested and in his 
sleep let fall his diploma, and when he awoke 
refreshed became so infatuated with the premises 



GOING INTO YOSEMITE VALLEY. 127 

that he wandered off forgetting liis roll, leaving 
it lying in the bower where he rested. ISTow a 
tourist would be in a similar dilema if he should 
fall asleep at Dudley's and loose his ticket to the 
Yosemite Yalley, and after leaving the next 
morning when the grass was sparkling with dew, 
be obliged to retrace his steps at noonday, and 
wait for the next tri-weetly stage ; he would 
then be just in the right frame of mind to sym- 
pathize with Bunj^an's Christian Pilgrim, poor 
fellow. Upon the Coulterville route we get the 
very best specimens of California hotel keeping. 
The food is the best possible quality, prepared 
and served by an intelligent housewife; no better 
recommendation needed. The hotels throughout 
this State generally, are an abomination; only to 
be tolerated from the most extreme necessity. 
I do not know of another business fraud so sys- 
tematized, unless it is the liquor business, for all 
liquors are tampered with imtil only fit for jn..^t 
what they are doing, killing men. 

It is a subject of much regret among the trav- 
eling public, that the question of the quality of 
food served to the unfortunate traveler cannot 



128 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

be made a matter of special legislation. A race 
of men must deteriorate when fed apon refuse 
food, only fit for swine. I sincerely believe that 
this method of cooking is half the cause of there 
being so much intemperance in this State. I 
know that the old Washingtonians used to blame 
women who were poor or careless cooks, for the 
drunkenness of their husbands, and I think the 
responsibility can with safety be shifted upon 
the hotels in this case. A returning foreign 
tourist stopping for the night at Dudley's, found 
that in making change he had taken five or six 
one cent pieces for the gold coin two dollars and 
fifty cents. I comforted him by saying that I 
was ashamed of some classes of my countrymen, 
those who would resort to such shabbiness ; that 
he must educate his eyes to the specie and look 
sharp for one cent upon every piece in the future. 
The gentleman appeared to be a man of means, 
as he did not lay it to heart very heavily, only 
looked thoughtful as if trying to reconnoiter 
memory in order if possible to recollect when and 
bj whom this fraud could have been practiced 
so successfully. 



GOING INTO YOSEMITE VALLEY. 129 

The fields at Dudley's are irrigated, and the 
birds have found that it is a beautiful home in the 
forest for them, and they make it lively with 
their music. During our forenoon ride we came 
to the Bower Cave ; this is situated but a short 
distance from the main road, and is visited while 
the horses drink. A young girl conducted us 
to the cave and opened a rude door fastened by 
lock and key. AVe descended a flight of stairs 
long enough for two stories of an ordinary resi- 
dence, and find ourselves in an amphitheater of 
most wonderful pleasing appearance; being one 
hundred feet long and seventy-five feet wide. 
The walls formed of great rocky bowlders com- 
ing nearly together at the top, and three large 
trees, three and a half feet in diameter, growing 
in the cave, just a nice distance apart, the boughs 
coming together at the top, forming a complete 
shade like green blinds to a sky light, and soft- 
ening the light in consequence. The floor of 
the cave is smooth hard soil, ornamented with 
little patches of green moss, answering as rugs 
placed about upon bare floors. Upon one side 
of the cave is a pond of water, occupying not 
9 



130 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

more than one-fourth or one-fifth of the space. 
This water is deep, clear as crystal, very cold 
and having a perpendicular wall of two feet, as 
it is two feet lower than the floor of the cave ; 
it is enclosed with a paling to prevent accident, 
and a small boat is furnished for fishing purposes, 
as it abounds in these beautiful mountain trout. 
At one end of the pond nature has attempted to 
form a stairway leading to the galleries. The 
arches overhead are complete, and the natural 
way may have answered for the original design, 
but the stairs have been finished by the hand of 
man, and we ascend to j^ass through a spacious 
hall to dark side rooms twenty feet deep, and 
many other black holes we did not care to pene- 
trate. These places have all been visited, per- 
haps by wild beasts, as the openings were worn 
as if by something sliding upon them. 

I was enjoying, and wondering if nature fitted 
up these mansions on purpose for her dusky sons 
and daughters, and why such houses did not 
occur oftener, and where some poor homeless, 
houseless wanderers could have the benefit, 
instead of taking up with the terrible hotels in 



GOING INTO YOSEMITE VALLEY 131 

this State ; and when I aroused from these rever- 
ies, found myself alone with the little lady guide; 
all the tourists had fled and when we reached the 
top of the steps there was not one in sight. 
This is an objection to traveling with a public 
conveyance for pleasure or culture. Most per- 
sons visiting those places, go for the simple sake 
of going, without the least idea of ever becom- 
ing cultivated in scenery or intelligently benefit- 
ted by travel. When I reached the road, the stages 
were waiting, the drivers with uplifted lash ready 
to be off, as if our lives depended upon getting 
out of this vicinity with all possible speed. I 
was astonished, at the same time provoked, to 
hear the comments of tourists upon this beauti- 
ful curiosity. All would say at least, that it was 
nice; some were annoyed at being charged fifty 
cents upon our return, others that the stage had 
lost that much time, and some that the path over 
which we went was so rough with stones. 
Yerily, man is a grumbling animal; it is almost 
a wonder that he ever learned to articulate in 
a perfect language, when growling might have 
served his purpose quite as well. To an educated 



132 OVER THE PURl'LE HILLS. 

cavern tourist, I suppose that this cave would 
be a very small thing, but to me who have never 
visited many caves, it is wonderful and beautiful, 
and I shall hereafter make a point of visiting 
all caves anywhere within the range of my travels. 
This day at noon we stop at a place called Hazel 
Green. We find an excellent lunch house, kept 
during summer by James Halstead, a very pleas- 
ant and obliging host. In this remote mountain 
forest, we pay one dollar for lunch and think it 
not one cent too much for value received. 

Leaving this point we descend the mountain 
until we reach the Yosemite. The horses pass 
rapidly around these mountain curves, bringing 
new scenes and fresh pictures in every turn ; 
many water falls appear which lend a charming 
variety to the scene, although considered too 
insignificant to have a name when compared to 
the legitimate falls of the real Yosemite. As we 
near the end of the second day from Merced, 
the third from San Francisco, we hear the roar 
of the rushing Merced river, and soon find our- 
selves on an elevation of about three or four 
thousand feet above a yawning precii)ice, and 



GOING INTO YOSEMTTE VALLEY. 133 

looking timidly down, down, to get a glimpse of 
a beautiful stream of the most delicate shade of 
green when placid, and white as snow when 
broken into dancing cascades bj rocky obstruc- 
tions. At this point the great Yosemite Yalley 
first breaks upon the vision, with a realizing 
sense of its grandeur. Here the rocks lift their 
towering heads so loftily to the sky, and the preci- 
pices are so fearfully deep, that mighty streams 
all turn to tears when rushing by, because of tak- 
ing such a leap. The great mass of clean, clearly 
cut bowlders lying along the wall of the valley, 
broken by their fall into all conceivable shapes, 
resembling a fleet of steam ships driven by the 
storm upon some rocky strand in the greatest 
possible confusion. Much of this stone is the 
same as the celebrated Lockport granite. The 
figures varying with clouds of black running 
through the light colored granite, some spotted 
in large patterns, and some figured almost like 
print. These are frequently called the calico 
rocks, and if accessible would make the most 
beautiful and substantial building material in 
the world. The road is blasted through this 



134 



OVER THE PUEPLE HILLS. 



rocky dSris and it takes the most watchful 
diligence to keep the thoroughfare clear from 
obstructions. 




WHAT I SAW AKD HEAKD IN THE 
VALLEY. 

UPO]^ entering Yosemite Yalley it is quite 
natural to think about how this wonderful 
formation was wrought out. I came to the con- 
clusion that the top of a range of mountains 
about fifteen miles long and two or three in 
width had fallen in, to fill some subterraneous 
vacuum. The fact that there is so little dehris 
upon the ground shows that all the matter was 
taken down at one slide, leaving walls fearfully 
perpendicular, four thousand feet high upon an 
average. Then in all ^ji'obabilitj the valley filled 
with water, and was the cause of these bottomless 
little lakes we hear of among the mountains. 
The soil is very like beach sand — heavy and 
coarse — making locomotion exceedingly difficult 
for both man and beast. There are other evi- 

(135) 



136 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

dences in this valley of its having been once the 
bed of a lake. Upon reading Professor Whit- 
ney's work upon the Yoseniite and Sierras, I find 
that his theories and suppositions are the same. 
Waterfalls are formed frequently throughout the 
valley by the melting snows running in rivulets, 
seeking one common outlet; and the beautiful 
Merced winds its way upon one side and the 
other of the enclosure, as if to impartially dis- 
pense its liquid blessings and accommodate itself 
to the rocky obstruction and sympathizing water- 
fall. It will be delightful when rustic bridges 
have been built across these twinkling, pebbly 
tributaries. The whole valley is densely shaded 
(except now and then small openings) with the 
variety of timber growing in this altitude — the 
pines, spruce, cedar, and balm of Gilead or Cot- 
tonwood — the growth of underwood consisting 
of jnanzanita, dos'wood and the usual mountain 
chaparral. The fragrant azalea, the thimble 
berry and spicy colt's foot forn;^ the first covering 
for the soil. The pines are models of perfection, 
and would make as fine lumber as any timber 
upon earth. I suppose it will shock lovers of 



WHAT I SAW AND HEARD. 137 

scenery, and sound sacrelegious, to hear these 
park-like forests and grand old trees mentioned 
in a practical sense. This place should be looked 
upon as sacred, being a glorious old curiosity 
shop, donated by the General Government and 
adopted by the State as a ward for the benefit 
and cultivation of the traveling public through 
all coming time. 

A person cannot appreciate the magnitude of 
these walls without lingering near them for some 
time, and then they must be carefully, studiously 
compared with all the pinnacles and elevations 
one has ever climbed. I remember to have 
thouglit a hundred and seven feet pretty well up 
from tlie ground, when climbing to the tower of 
a village water tank; but to compare this height 
with three or four thousand feet perpendicular 
is rather more than one can comprehend with the 
eye when it comes to altitude. These walls so 
overshadow things that the valley seems the cool- 
est, quietest place of resort in all the world. 
Distance is obscured by the height of the sur- 
roundings. If one attempts to walk to an object 
apparently close at hand, he will be astonished at 



138 OVER THE PURPLE HIIXS. 

the space annihilated before the point is gained. 
Glacier Point gives the finest view to be obtained 
in the whole valley. An entire day will be con- 
sumed in reaching it, but it is well worth the 
time and pains. From this height — four thou- 
sand feet — Mirror Lake is seen" to reflect the 
surrounding mountains as plainly as a looking- 
glass will reflect the human form. All the prin- 
ciple points of interest can be seen from this 
place, and the immense height fills one with awe 
and a kind of delightful terror. 

After reaching the valley, the next thing is to 
look for a place where one is to breakfast, have 
lunch put up, dine and sleep after the day's 
labor is over, for nothing in this world is worth 
having for which we do not work, and the Yose- 
mite trip is no exception to this rule. Lidig's is 
the best place in the line of hotels. Mrs. L. 
attends to the cooking in j^erson ; the residts are 
that the food is well cooked and intelligently 
served. There is not the variety to be obtained 
here as in places more accessible to market. 
After traveling a few months in California a 
person is liable to think less of variety and more 



WHAT I SAW AND HEARD. 139 

of quality. At this place the beds are cleanly 
and wholesome, although consisting of pulu 
mattresses placed upon slat bedsteads. This 
house stands in the shadow of Sentinel Rock, 
and faces the great Yosemite Fall; is surrounded 
with porches, making a pleasant place to sit and 
contemplate the magnificence of the commanding 
scenery. At this place there are several beautiful 
but sadly neglected children, Avho act as a kind 
of scare-crow — frightening tourists off to some 
other parts, who repent upon learning the real 
nature of the place, beholding the spotless floors, 
and the actual purity of the linen and things in 
general. 

The horses used by the tourist upon the trail 
form a peculiar feature in the business of Yose- 
mite life. After a day's work these creatures are 
dismounted at any of the hotels and turned loose. 
They proceed at once, without telling, to the 
stables adjoining and a large corral, where they 
are unsaddled ; then they trot off a mile or two, 
perhaps three, to a pasture, to rest and feed for 
the coming day's labor, always in droves of from 
a dozen to fifty. The next morning the guides 



140 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

hunt them, and tliey are driven np like a drove 
of cattle, some one of the number wearing a dis- 
graceful old cow bell. They tramp to the stables 
like sheep to slaughter, are placed in the corral, 
taken out and saddled in squads, as they are 
needed, sometimes standing for hours waiting 
the pleasure of creation's lord. These horses are 
treated like slaves, having neither time nor 
opportunity to get sufficient food or rest to fully 
recuperate them from the previous day's exertions. 
The consequences are that they are as spiritless 
as so many sheep. These creatures are raised in 
droves upon the San Joaquin plains, all bearing 
the brand of the owner. I was horrified to learn 
that when the mothers are needed for work the 
colts are given away or knocked in the hfead. 
Horses are reared in this climate with so little 
trouble and expense, that strangers are astonished 
at the cheapness with which they are held. 
Good serviceable creatures can be had all the way 
from fifty cents to fifty dollars. The companies 
owning the horses in the valley have a kind of 
asylum for them, where they are permitted to 
retire when too much exhausted to continue upon 



WHAT I SAW AND HEAKD. 141 

the trail. Here in this green meadow some of 
them recuperate, and some take a journey to the 
better land, where it. is to be hoped that men 
will not desire to enrich themselves at the ex])ense 
of the animal comfort of any^of God's creatures. 
Somehow in my heart I cannot but feel that the 
man or class of men who will totally disregard 
the common wants and the dignity of any animal 
will hardly manifest the purest humanity and 
manhood toward his own kind. 

There are several hotels in the Yosemite 
Yalley, a bath house, picture gallery, a place 
where the curiosities in wood work are to be 
obtained, a seed store, dry goods store, laundry 
and meat market. There is at j^resent no resi- 
dent physician, but likely there will be those who 
will at least take up a temporary abode by the 
time of another season for tourists. The bath 
house called the Cosmopolitan is kept by John 
C. Smith, and I will venture to say that there is 
'nothing in tliis line in the State that is as well 
gotten up or as well kept. I wish there were 
more of the same race of John Smiths to take 
charge of a few of the hotels in this country. 



142 OYER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

The Great Eegister is found here, a book some- 
thing like the one described hj John the Reve- 
lator, which had so many seals — this having the 
names of the different States, whereof the inhabi- 
tants upon visiting the Yosemite can register 
thereof. In this establishment there are reading 
rooms, billiard tables, croquet grounds — amuse- 
ment for both sexes — and walks with flowers 
kept with the utmost care and scrupulous neat- 
ness. Near this elegant establishment is the 
house of Adolph Sinning, a skillful worker in 
wood. Mr. Sinning has made a chess table of 
two dozen different kinds of wood and two thou- 
sand pieces. This beautiful piece of workman- 
ship was on exhibition at the city of Philadelphia 
during the Centennial. Pretty little cabinets, 
canes and sleeve buttons are manufactured from 
the timber grown in Yosemite Yalley. This 
gentleman is a German, of most pleasing presence 
and manner, and does all this fine work entirely 
alone. He says that as a mechanic he has great 
respect for the American, and a due regard for 
his modes of procedure; but that the American 
rushes things so* terribly that he cannot work 



WHAT I SAW AND HEARD. 143 

with him, and can only succeed by doing things 
in his own quiet way. He showed me a cane 
with a setting of stone or glass in the side a little 
larger than a pin head. Upon placing this to 
the eye a beautiful stereoscopic view of the 
Yosemite Fall spread out before the astonished 
gaze. 

There is a seed store kept next door by Henry 
Segman, where the seed of the Sequoys Gigan- 
tus, or Big Tree, is kept for sale, aside from many 
other kinds of vegetable growths to be found in 
the valley. The big trees flourish finely in any 
of the snowy latitudes where the frost is not too 
severe. In England it is said that they shoot up 
two feet in one season, having a very vigorous 
growth. The oily seed of the balsam of fir is 
collected in considerable quantities, and sold for 
six dollars per pound. The picture gallery is 
kept by J. J. Eieley. I found an ugly looking 
lot of samples hanging in frames about the valley, 
and when I saw his real pictures inquired how it 
was that such bad samples were put out for an 
advertisement. He said that the good pictures 
would all be stolen as fast as he could replace 



144 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

them. I wondered at the cupidity of any- 
one coming here who would steal a picture, let 
it be ever so tempting, when they could be 
obtained at the price of twenty-five and fifty 
cents. There is a post and telegra23h office and 
Wells & Fargo's express. The people one sees and 
hears in these watering places form a goodly 
feature in the objects of travel. At present the 
hotels of the Yosemite are of bandbox order — 
cloth and paper, to be sure, answering all the 
immediate needs of this indulgent climate, but 
rather generous in the communication of sound. 
My first morning dreams were disturbed by the 
wail of some venerable spinster who had lost her 
wash-rag. The chambermaid was rallied at five 
o'clock in the morning, and the din and search 
kept up with unceasing diligence for one hour. 
During this time I had heard the word wash -rag 
pronounced so frequently, that this, witli the 
fatigue of travel, threw me into a laughing hys- 
teric. There was something so utterly ridiculous 
in hearing the word pronounced so repeatedly, 
and the absurdity of creating a disturbance for so 
small a matter, that I came near having what 



WHAT I SAW AND HEARD. 145 

used to be known as a " conniption " fit. In the 
meantime the poor little chambermaid was 
vibrating between smiles and tears mentally, and 
between mj room, the other room and the porch 
personally, all the time wondering what could 
have become of the unfortunate woman's wash- 
rag. The smiles were in sympathy with my 
laughing mood, the tears the cruel sting of unjust 
accusation, and the bodily movements an uneasy 
desire to have the stage come and carry off the 
hapless tourist. The stage came at last, and the 
woman was torn from the scenes where she had 
lost her wash -rag and borne reluctantly away. 
The last sound that I heard from her retreating 
figure-head was the wail of the wash-rag. In 
the course of her morning work the chamber- 
maid went into the room, and upon emptying 
the pitcher gave a faint scream, and called me to 
come and behold the missing wash-rag. " Stars 
and stripes!" I exclaimed, "where did you find 
it?" " In the pitcher," she answered. It was a 
piece of tufted toweling about a foot square, and 
striped with red, and when it came sliding out 
of the pitcher the girl imagined pink snakes, 
10 



146 OVER THE PURPI-E HILLS. 

curiosities of tourists, and several things before 
the real truth flashed upon her. Tliis mystery- 
was solved; "but," said the girl, "I know that 
lad}^ will think until the day of judgment that I 
took her wash-rag, unless by some accident she 
shall hear of this." I lost a package of thread, 
of spools of cotton and silk, upon this same route 
— not at this house — enough to have lasted me 
for ten years; and I am sure that with a warrant 
I could find them now, but I would rather lose 
them than run the risk of placing an innocent 
person under unjust suspicion; besides, there are 
classes of human beings whose chances to com- 
pete with others for a livelihood have been so 
cramped and limited, that they think that they 
must steal in order to get even, and it is not in 
my heart to blame them. At the same time I 
would most assuredly encourage tiie most rigor- 
ous regard for the property of others, as stealing 
is closely allied to the dreadful crime of murder. 
One morning I heard a young girl say, in a 
whining voice, that she did not want to make the 
trip on horseback necessary to do the valley, 
adding that she did not see what people wanted 



WHA.T I SAW AND HEARD. 147 

to go scrambling over those rough trails for. I 
am afraid; should think people could come here 
and enjoy this beautiful scenerj in quiet. But 
papa had a horse brought, and insisted with a 
few firm but gentle words, as if accustomed to 
being obeyed ; and every evening when this dainty 
little miss returned, face flushed with exercise, 
and so stiff from sitting upon the horse that she 
could scarcely step, she would call out to those 
whom she greeted at the hotel, " O, I am so glad 
that I went; it was so beautiful!" Papa evi- 
dently had no idea of going to the trouble and 
expense of bringing her to this valley, have lier 
lose her interest, and go tamely home without 
seeing anything. Upon another occasion a very 
pretty, well dressed family came for a few days, 
and the wife seemed to be parsimonious. Each 
morning she had something to say about the 
extravagance of the trip. The husband would 
answer. It is a pity, with such an income, that 
we cannot spend a little money in traveling with- 
out such a to do. I do not want to hear another 
word; not another word. This seemed to settle 
the matter for another day. But they were a 



148 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

very unhappy couple, in spite of their income; 
and the children seemed to catch the same spirit 
— were constantly teasing one another and quar- 
reling. 

When you visit the Yosemite for pleasure and 
put up at a pasteboard hotel, bring as few cares 
and family jars as you can well get along with, 
and above all keep quiet while remaining. Con- 
trasting this scene, there was a middle aged, 
corpulent man with an immense wide mouth, 
heavy chin and narrow forehead. The individ- 
ual evidently had a daughter with him, the per- 
fact counterpart of the governor, as the boys 
would say, and in their party were two or three 
empty headed fops seeking the old man's favor 
by the way of the daughter's moneyed prospects. 
The old gentleman condescendingly took it upon 
himself to entertain the younger members of the 
party by relating stale stories in the most pom- 
pous manner, sometimes getting the point on the 
wrong end of the anecdote, while the chaps made 
their own points likely by laughing in a very 
appreciative manner, perhaps at the old fellow's 
obtuseness and lack of intellectual tact. At any 



WHAT I SAW AND HEARD. 14:9 

rate the scene was really interesting as a charac- 
teristic, even to those not at all in the plot. 
The anxious mamma is a character one meets in 
all of these places of public resort. She is 
known by the manner in which she hurls sharp- 
ened darts at any interesting female who should 
happen to stand in the shadow of the young 
or old man that she has chosen to marry her 
Serephena Ann. Now, I detest, above all the 
cliaracters that I ever met, the anxious mamma; 
and there is nothing w^hich man can say that 
will so insult my womanhood as to hear him, in 
his vanity, gloat over the traps and snares of 
this class of female slaves; slaves to the absurd 
customs of what is known as society. I know 
that I would never become an ambitious mamma. 
If I had twenty-seven daughters, and their 
orders of intelligence varied from the finest 
first-class literary talents down to that of the 
second-class scrub, I would fit them for lives of 
usefulness to themselves and to society; and 
teach them that marriage should be the last 
subject upon earth upon which to spend time 
and thought, even though it be the first thing 



150 OVER THE PUEPLE HILLS. 

perpetrated. Men do not appreciate women 
that they can pick up like pebbles upon the 
strand, nor do they deserve any more than they 
get in the way of appreciation, because of their 
want of independence and dignity. 

On account of the crowded state of the hotel 
a couple of gentlemen were obliged to room 
together, hitherto strangers to one another. One 
was a Germ an- American, of good practical sense 
but bad English, while the other was, I think, 
an Englishman. The following dialogue occurred 
while they were preparing a toilet for break- 
fast: 

Englishman. '' Well, a gentleman is a gentle- 
man the world over, and I have no objections to 
rooming with a gentleman. I do not care if 
you are a German duke or general, I should have 
no objection." 

German. " My Got, man ! I am just as goot as 
any duke or general, and I earned my own 
money, and do not thank Got, man nor the 
other member of the trinity." 

E. " My house was founded in the time of 



WHAT T SAW AND HEAED. 151 

Queen Elizabeth (here the conversation became 
inaudible). 

The hotels were in a verj crowded state, and 
men of any rank took what was offered them. 
This was better, somewhat, than taking a blanket 
and lying under a tree for a night's rest. 

I wondered if I could detect this scion of 
nobility at the breatfast table. I looked down 
the rows on each side ; sure enough he was there. 
A careful observer could have picked him out 
from among ten or twenty men of sense, either 
of whom could have traced their ancestry to the 
hold of an imigrant ship, and their line to a 
tarred mark upon the deck better appreciated by 
our forefathers than b}^ ourselves. I knew him 
by his handsome feminine face and brainless 
cranium; by the style of his neck-tie, shirt-front 
and the number and size of his finger rings; 
and most of all by his condescending good 
nature and patronizing smile. Living relic of 
degenerate greatness, thought I, quoting Pope: 

" Go, if your ancient but ignoble blood 
Has crept through ninnies ever since the flood. 
Go, and pretend your family is young, 
Nor own your fathers have been fools so long." 



152 OVER THE PFRPLE HILLS. 

Many celebrities and what might be tenned 
" characters " come to this valley every season. 
No " roughs," however, have as yet made a 
rendezvous of this earthly paradise. Here I 
met Sallie Hart, the well known female teacher's 
lobbiest, of this State; a golden haired " childy " 
little woman, but one of acknowledged talent 
and much political influence, backed in all her 
public movements by the wealth and talent of 
the suffragists and temperance people of this 
State, Also, Mrs. Lawrence, a conservative but 
graceful writer, who is known by the unpretend- 
ing noin de fluine^ " Red Riding Hood." 

I would like a few words to ministers and 
their families who come to visit this wonder in 
nature. That in these days of Christian popu- 
larity and church prosperity, few are called upon 
to practice much self-denial at home, and when 
in this valley it is an excellent time to exercise 
the Christian graces; and if the beds are not so 
soft as those you have been accustomed to, just 
thing of the hymn, " Shall I be carried to the 
skies on flowery beds of ease," etc., and if you 
are called upon to eat grass-hoppers and fresh 



WHAT I SAW AND HEARD. 153 

bread, think of an apostle whose meat was 
locusts and wild honey; and that the beloved 
founder of Christianity had not a better place 
to lay his holy head than under the grateful 
shade of these lofty pines in the Yosemite Val- 
ley; and it is very doubtful if the ass which he 
appropriated was any more spirited than the 
poor beasts which bore us so laboriously over 
the rough mountain trail, bearing the brand of 
Washburn, Chapman & Co. 




STKAWBEEEYING IN THE YOSEMITE 
YALLEY. 

A PARTY of three were going for a drive 
towards the upper end of this enchanting 
valley, and as if to tempt tlie fates, who are said 
to be partial to odd numbers, I was invited to 
fill a vacant seat and make the number even. 
The horses were of the sedate, thoughtful type, 
born to take things complacently, and without 
any fiery or spirited nonsense about them, and 
when encouraged by the lash, invariably express- 
ing the same start of surprise, immediately set- 
tling into their original gait, as if they believed 
the driver's suggestions to be purely accidental. 
The driver represented among men what the 
team did among horses. He was a descendant 
of the noble Castilian, subject to the modifica- 
tion of the various crosses which have taken 
(154) 



STRAWBERRYING IN THE VALLEY. 155 

place in- the peculiar commingling of races upon 
the Pacific coast. Our driver might have prided 
himself upon speaking four or live different 
languages, without being able to read in either, 
and in each of these dialects his vocabulary may 
have been so limited that it would be quite 
impossible to elicit an intelligent response to the 
most common-place inquiry. From constitu- 
tional peculiarities, our driver's virtues must 
ever be his greatest faults, a paradox, but never- 
theless applying with equal truth to both men 
and horses. At the first outset the wagon 
squeaked so fearfully that we were afraid our 
voices could not be heard — a very uncomfortable 
state of things for an excessively talkative party. 
The gentleman of the company, Captain B., a 
Massachusetts Yankee, proposed to the driver 
that we put into some harbor a sufficient length 
of time to grease the wheels, remarking that the 
hubs might heat, and that this might interfere 
with our locomotion. It was evident that the 
Captain knew more of ship rigging than he did 
of horses and their fixtures, for a single glance 
at those natural born scrubs would have con- 



156 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

vinced any one but a seaman that the hubs were 
not in as much danger of heat by friction as we 
were of sunstroke by stagnation. Tlie boy of 
doubtful nationality and mixed dialects, was 
sufficiently Americanized to pay no attention to 
the Captain's suggestions, and soon the noisy 
wheels were forgotten in contemplating the 
grandeur of the walls of this mighty tabernacle. 
The air was pure and bracing, the vegetation 
lending a delightful fragrance, and the party 
were filled with wonder whicli was vented in 
exclamations. These gigantic walls so over- 
shadow things as to make the valley appear 
much smaller than it really is. ^ After a delight- 
ful drive of two hours we reach the end of the 
wagon road, and return on a diverging route in 
order to come near the Yosemite Falls. In our 
course lies the transparent Merced, spanned by a 
bridge of most remarkable architectural struc- 
ture. Two logs, or stringers, are laid across the 
stream and floored with planks, which are fas- 
tened down with wooden pins. At ^^resent it is so 
much settled upon one side as to leave in fearful 
doubt the center of gravity of a passing vehicle. 



STRAWBERRYING IN THE VALLEY. 157 

There is a ford that can be crossed with some 
risk at this season of the year, as the water is 
yet rather high and so limpid that one is liable 
to be deceived in the depth. Being upon the 
front seat beside the driver I took the liberty to 
suggest that fording might be better than flying 
in our present ill-fledged condition, that this was 
a promising bridge, but that the promise was 
entirely too one-sided. My argument prevailed, 
perhaps appealed to the judgment of the driver. 
The horses plunged into the stream like lazy 
porpoises, apparently delighted with the prospect 
of swimming, commencing to drink as they 
waded, going slower and slower, as the water 
became deeper. The dull creatures took it so 
leisurly, and with such a relish, that I should 
have been more alarmed than surprised if they 
had attempted to lie down and roll over. The 
water already came so high that my hair stood 
on end. I had drawn several drowning: sigfhs 
and the crisis was not yet reached, but in another 
moment the water came pouring over the little 
dash-board. I gave a faint, feminine shriek, 
elevated my feet upon a level with the seat, the 



158 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

driver hit the liorses, they gave a start, and the 
trouble was over. We had crossed; not entirely 
dry shod, for the Captain and his wife did not 
see the situation in time to save their soles from 
the impending fate. During this adventure I 
was fearfully exercised mentally, making a vig- 
orous resolve to devote the remainder of my 
efforts upon earth to suppress any disposition 
towards ofticiousness. However the peril was 
passed and soon forgotten; and it is surprising 
how rapidly clothing dries in this clear evapo- 
rating atmosphere. Shortly after we find our- 
selves in a circular piece of meadow land sur- 
rounded by a growth of fine young trees. This 
is the land of wild strawberries, where I was 
tempted to go a-berrying to recall the days of 
youth, and to pay very dear for the whistle. 
Directl}^ in front of us was that white-robed 
spirit, known as the Yosemite Falls, descending 
like a million sky rockets over two thousand 
feet of fall to baptize the rocks below and glad- 
den the fertile valleys. Occasionally its snowy 
draper}^ is blown aside by the busy breeze, 
returning gracefully like a hanging curtain. 



STRAWBERRYING IN THE VALLEY. 159 

This beautiful piece of natural scenery engenders 
veneration and sublimity in the human mind. I 
found myself changing a passage in Goldsmith's 
Deserted Tillage to suit the occasion: 

In all my wanderings around this world of care, 
In all my griefs, and God has given my share, 
I still had hope some pleasant hours to crown, 
Besides these grand old rocks to sit me down, 
To draw an inspiration from these scenes to last 
Until the latest hour of life is past. 

In driving through the meadow I observed a 
plat of wild strawberries. If I stopped to pick 
them then there was nothing to put them, in, so 
we passed on. Bright visions of rose-tinted, 
hopeful youth flitted through my brain. I could 
not be content without returning to this field 
and getting a few strawberries, just to refresh 
my memory upon the days of pink sunbonnets 
and Old Lang Syne. The next morning I pro- 
cured a four quart pail and started for the red 
field of action. A road never seemed so long. 
It was reported a mile and a half, but I am sure 
that it was three miles. Once started I must 
reach the ground, and reaching it must procure 



160 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

some of the wild fruit, and then walk back 
unless a miracle interposed to save the infliction. 
Upon reaching the slanting bridge, I ventured 
across on foot, and on doing so modified my 
mental resolution in regard to officiousness, for I 
now began to think that my interposition the 
day before saved us from being tipped into the 
cool Merced. I never in my life felt more 
keenly that I had been deceived in distance, but 
comforted myself by saying that three miles is 
no distance for a British subject to walk. I had 
become very warm, tired and thirsty; the Merced 
flowed nearly around the meadow, and before I 
commenced my picking, dipped my pail into the 
river and drank of the refreshing water. I envy 
the cattle that can quench their thirst at this 
stream the year round. It is the coolest, sweetest 
tasting water that I ever drank, and is as soft as 
snow-water — just what it is. It comes near to 
the Bartlett Spring in flavor. I gathered a quart 
of berries, went to the river, wet my handker- 
chief, placed it in my hat and started for home, 
(we sometimes call the hotels in this country by 
that name.) This field did not seem wide, still 



STRAWBERRYING IN THE VALLEY. 161 

I observed horsemen upon the other side and 
thej looked as if they were in an adjoining 
county. I wandered along, occasionally stopping 
at a red patch, and this fascination continued to 
hold me until I had added three quarts to my 
gatherings; by this time the edge of the field 
was reached. I was thirsty again and wondered 
how I could ever have started off on such a 
journey without a lunch and cup to drink from. 
This was verily much like the heedlessness of 
youth. But I w^as perishing with thirst and my 
pail was in use. There was no other way but to 
build a pier of drift-wood and drink hunter 
fashion. This was performed with some labor; 
then I steered for the meadow and was on the 
road for home, feeling a little as if youthful 
pastimes were a humbug. I should have felt 
more decided in regard to these reflections if I 
could conscientiously say that age always brought 
wisdom. I am firmly convinced that it does 
not, for I still find myself controlled at times by 
strange freaks that would tend to question the 
common sense of a child ten years of age. At 
length the hotel was reached and an elderly lady 
11 



162 OVER THE PURPLE HHXS. 

offered to help nie hull mj berries. This task 
completed I went to the kitchen and gave orders 
as to how the berries were to be divided among 
mj acquaintances. The stages came in before 
dinner and there was a rush of hungry passen- 
gers. I put in a claim that I had been without 
eating for ten hours and had been a-berrjing. 
Mj claim was granted, and in the course of table 
serving I had a dish of the wild strawberries. 
Upon going to my room I found myself getting 
fearfully sea-sick without a thought of going to 
sea. Soon I had lost all my berries and supper 
too. The system was exhausted and the stomach 
promptly resented any further imposition in the 
way of work. The next two days I was unable 
to sit up. It took twenty-four hours for my 
acquaintances to realize that I was ill, and when 
they called I inquired if they had received any 
of the wild berries. ]^ot one, they answered. 
The servants were rushed out of their senses 
and no one knew anything about them. I was 
overwhelmed with disappointment; how should 
I get even? upon whom could I be revenged? 
If I were a male member of society, a privileged 



STRAWB^RRYING IN THE VALLEY. 163 

citizen, could have vented my rage and ire in 
kicks, cuffs and forcible language, but being a 
restricted nondescrij)t witli many asserted liber- 
ties and little practical freedom, I restrained my 
feelings, took a pill of asafoetida and found my 
temper becoming calm. I perhaps could have 
had the satisfaction of kicking over a chair, but 
the muscles brought into use upon the straw- 
berry field refused to act in concert with healthy 
locomotion. If any person had at that time 
called me a failure or an unmitigated humbug, I 
should have believed the statement. While 
lying in bed I had time to reflect upon the 
uncertainty of human affairs, and realize, in the 
language of the Widow Bedott ; 

We can't calculate with no precision, 

On naught beneath the sky, 
So I have come to the decision 

That 'taint no use to tiy. 

Owing to the transient character of the Yose- 
mite travel, in getting about after two days 
illness, all my acquaintances were gone and their 
places filled with strangers. Like Eip Yan 



164 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

Winkle, I was led to exclaim, I knew who were 
my neighbors when I went to sleep. I had lost 
three days of active life and one sleeve button. 
The strawberries, even those eaten were a total 
loss — mine going to the dogs, and the rest 
devoured by non-sympathizing tourists. Here, 
in sight of the beautiful Yosemite Falls, I came 
to the conclusion that we have no more right to 
sigh over our youthful days than we have to 
covet our neighbor's horses or his overcoat. 
That the roses of youth are so entwined with 
verdancy that we gain more than we lose by our 
transit into the sear and yellow leaf. That no 
one period of human life j)ossesses an advantage 
over another, and I resolve to accept the laws of 
compensation, let by-gones be by-gones, and 
remember no more the days nor the follies of 
youth. 




YEENAL AND NEVADA FALLS. 

THESE interesting falls are reached from the 
valley by a zigzag trail which can only be 
traversed on foot, or upon animals. We started 
at nine o'clock in the morning the guide going 
ahead in order to point out and call the names 
of places of interest. The ride through any 
part of the timber is most delightful, being as 
shady as one continued park. The weather is 
just cool enough, just warm enough, in short 
it seems made for the special comfort of tourists 
and if the winds are tempered to the shorn lamb, 
why should not the goats come in for a share of 
this temperature? We meander slowly through 
pleasant glades, glens, and intervals, crossing 
mountain streams, beautifully speckled with 
pieces of pulverized granite, worn until they 
take the name pebble, rivulets possessing so much 
(165) 



166 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

of picturesque beauty, that it hardly seems pos- 
sible for them to exist outside of poetical imag- 
ination. Here are the stately pine and red wood, 
the graceful, although illegitimate cedar, the 
beautiful silver fir, also the balm of Gilead. The 
showy dog wood displays its gay blosoms, the 
spicy plant known as colt's foot grows luxuri- 
antly in this altitude, the fair azalea decorates 
the open glade and lends its aroma to the passing 
breeze. The animals, poor creatures, are over 
worked and not properly fed, hence the most 
spiritless, sheepish looking creatures one can 
imagine; they pass demurely along in single iile 
ever slow and cautious. As we begin to ascend 
the mountain, the trail becomes rougher and it 
is wonderful the rock's hard-heads, rolling stones 
and other obstructions these patient creatures 
will overcome. After an hour's cool pleasant 
riding, the sound of rushing water breaks upon 
our ears, increasing in roar until conversation 
becomes impossible, and the clear Merced, in a 
different course, comes dashing, tearing, roaring 
down o'er the mountain we are climbing. It 
pours, rushes with terrible force over mighty 



VERNAL AND NEVADA EALLS 167 

rocks and helpless drift-wood, sometimes appeai-- 
ing like a flock of wolf-liunted sheep, then broken 
into snowy fleeces and here and there running 
into great clear streams of liquid green, ever in 
fearful tearing haste to join the placid river flow- 
ing calmly through the quiet valley. The rush 
of these waters create a strong breeze which is 
wonderfully refreshing, although we are not sens- 
ible of any undue heat. We scramble up a 
trail harder than the way of the transgressor, and 
arrive at the toll house, for this road is built by 
private enterprise, and must be kept open and 
in repair at the expense of the tourists. Here 
we alight, tie our sheep-like steeds, pay a toll of 
seventy-five cents, and scramble over the rocks 
on foot, including a vigorous use of hands, in 
order to get a better view of the Yernal Falls. 
At length we reach a large flat stone that might 
with much appropriateness be called table rock. 
This is covered with a plat of green moss, and 
seems as if fixed for the purpose of giving a fine 
view of this fall, notwithstanding one's literal 
hard scramble to reach it. This sheet of water 
descends over the walls of this mighty fortifica- 



168 OVER thp: pukpiji hili^. 

tion three liundred and fifty feet. Of coiiree, 
streams passing into the valley naturally seek the 
lowest and most accessible part of the wall in its 
immediate vicinity. The voice of this cataract 
reaches one's ears long before its snowy presence 
greets the vision, breaking the grand majestic 
panorama of ever varying rocks. This fall has 
a breath as well as a voice. After receiving our 
misty baptism from nature's flowing font, I 
sing " ]^earer my God to thee, nearer to thee," 
What though it be a Fall that bringeth me. 

We then scrambled back to the toll house, a 
building about twenty feet long and fourteen in 
width, and located under the edge of a speckled 
granite rock of the steamboat shape, the stone 
forming the back part of the house and half of 
the roof, giving it a cave like appearance. There 
are many bowlders of this peculiar shape. There 
is one located near the trail known as the steam- 
boat rock. The form is large and flat upon the 
top like the deck of a steamer, and runs in upon 
two sides, making the bottom smaller, giving it 
tlie appearance of a ship upon the dry docks; 
and seem to have been floated and left high and 



VERNAL AND NEVADA FALLS. 169 

drj, or have run aground in some of nature's 
volcanic freaks. Some of tliem have springs of 
water forming a little pond in which they seem 
to rest content, rather than to shrink and shed 
their mossy barnacles from very dryness. 

This rocky formation i* really one of the 
wonders of the valley, and is in reality bowlders 
which have been cleaved out of the stupendous 
walls when shaken by earthquakes, and when 
they have fallen, the large flat surface downward, 
do not attract the attention of the observer, be- 
cause resembling nothing upon the earth, but 
when lying the small end downw^ard, the resem- 
blance is too much like a steamship to be over- 
looked. The toll house was grafted upon this 
singular formation, lessening the expense one- 
half, roof and all. There is yet room for a livery 
stable and necessary out buildings under the 
protecting wing of the same mighty bovv-lder. 
Again we mount our sheepish steeds and com- 
mence the ascent of a zigzag trail, our winding 
way upward over hanging precipices of fearful 
height and depth. The animals, both horses 
and mules, show a peculiar individuality not 



170 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

observed heretofore in their sleepy manners. 
Tliey assert themselves as much as to sav, "We 
understand this trail, and the business of this 
ascent must be left to us entirely. We know 
just where you are going, and that we are respon- 
sible for both our lives, and must therefore be 
allowed to proceed w^ithout dictation." Hence, 
they halt at every turn to take breath, stoj)ping 
and starting when they please. They seem to 
ignore the interference of man, both as to what 
they can endure, and the choice of picking their 
own foothold. One soon learns to repose perfect 
confidence in the careful' creatures, ceases to tug 
at the reins when he finds it of no avail, and 
anxiously trusts to the fates for daring to tempt 
providence. Soon the greatest anxiety comes 
from the fact that the animal moves so slowly 
that there is danger of his falling asleep and for- 
getting to move altogether. M^^ poor, dear beast 
when stopping for breath, would turn his head, 
lay back his ears and look out upon the tops of 
the forest trees and down the precipice as if he 
did not think much of this style of scenery. 
Sometimes he had sufiicient spirit to snort w^hen 



VERNAL AND NEVADA FALLS. 171 

turning his eyes thoughtfully back upon the 
rocky trail. 

At length we reach a certain point, not the 
summit but the climax of our expectations, and 
commence a descent upon the other side. Pres- 
ently the [N'evada Falls comes in sight, the cap 
of Liberty, and Mount Washington and Mount 
Broderick. Nevada Fall rushes over a precipice 
seven hundred feet high, and in width is much 
like the spiritual looking Yosemite Fall. It 
appears to be about four feet in width, while the 
Yernal seems to be ten or twenty. These tall, 
or long cataracts, all descend in the form of sky 
rockets, while the shorter cascades are more 
compact, forming a solid, moving, white sheet. 
Nevada Fall sends forth an atmosphere heavy 
with mist, and at tiiree or four o'clock in the 
afternoon, rainbows may be seen with dazzling 
brilliancy and the primitive colors in varied 
shapes. The draft caused by these rushing ele- 
ments, keeps a few white clouds hovering over 
this cataract, like guardian angels, the only clouds 
to be seen in the deep ether above, and the cool 
breath of this baptizing spirit, compelled us to 



172 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

retreat into our thickest wraps while standing 
face to face, contemplating its graceful grandeur. 
The Cap of Liberty, a rock standing four thous- 
and six hundred feet above the valley, and clear 
from its surroundings, is, according to my fancy, 
the most interesting granite giant in the whole 
valley. It is stupendous beyond conception, and 
with its cap-like outlines, standing against the 
clear blue sky, it presents to the beholder one 
of the wonders of the world in magnitude. I 
did not feel able to stand and view my dumb 
stone chief from head to foot, his greatness so 
overwhelmed me that I sought a reclining posi- 
tion that I might have a place to hold my head 
in case my brain reeled in his majestic presence. 
We have now been a half hour at Snow's, the 
name of the man who keeps the hotel or lunch 
house in this remote location, a place only known 
to the pleasure seeking tourist, and the few who 
make a business of guiding him hither. I am 
so fatigued from the ascent that I fall asleep 
upon the lounge and dream of seeing waterfalls, 
and hearing roaring cataracts, and wake to find 
my mouth dry and parched, longing for a draft 



VERNAL AND NEVADA FALLS. 173 

from the cool Merced. I obtained it, but scarcely 
dare drink half a glass, because I have already 
drank of this water and chilled my stomach until 
it refuses to digest the most simple food. It 
seems to create an inward fever and a most 
unconquerable thirst. Others beside myself 
speak of this peculiarity of the waters, still every 
one is crazy to get it. 

After partaking of a most excellent lunch and 
resting a couple of hours, we think of retracing 
our steps. The horses have been stabled and 
fed, but it would take days, weeks, months,, per- 
haps years for them to get refreshed. Poor 
jaded creatures; somehow I cannot feel very 
tenderly toward the man who makes money by 
abusing other animals. I always felt an inward 
chuckle of delight when the guides had occasion 
to state that certain eccentric mules and know- 
ing horses had so hid themselves among the 
rocks that they could not be found at the time 
they were wanted to make the laborious ascent 
of the trail. Somehow these creatures have my 
sympathy, as does every living thing that has 
sufficient sense to resent a wrong imposed upon 



174 OYEK THE PURPLE HILLS. 

it. "We paj a dollar apiece for our lunch, and, 
because of my enfeebled digestion, I feel that I 
am not getting the worth of my monej^; there- 
fore, desire my horse shall have my share of the 
meal in token of thankfulness for his care in 
bringing my heavy person over the j)recipitous 
road. I place a few shriveled apples in my 
pocket for my ragged steed. The gentlemen 
say that he will not eat them. I am wondering 
w^hy man will continue to throw cold water 
upon the smallest enterprise — if that enterprise 
be a^ feminine one. Natural perversity in the 
disposition of the human male is w^onderful in 
its way, and it continues to exasperate me as if 
it were not a thing of every day, and I might say 
hourly, occurence. I never get used to it; I feel 
as if I would like to be transmigrated into a sit- 
ting hen for the occasion, so that I might fly upon 
the shoulders of one of these stubborn, willful 
creatures and give him a good threshing with 
my wings, associated with a vigorous hen-peck- 
ing. But I forget that it is a woman's office to be 
patient, and I expect this quarrelsome disposition 
arises from the state of my digestion, or rather 



VERNAL AND NEVADA FALLS. l75 

indigestion. At any rate I gave the horse the 
ap]3les and he still retained enough of the Old 
Adam to eat it; or, according to the Darwinian 
theory, Adam may have retained enough of the 
Old Horse or Donkey to cause him to eat apples 
when presented by the hand of an affectionate 
woman. I like hopeful, believing people. IIoj)e 
is a twin sister to the male Courage, and nothing 
of importance can ever be accomplished without 
both working together. I believed the horse 
would eat the apples, and was right; our lirst 
grand mother liad the same faith, and was suc- 
cessful. If Adam had been looking for birds' 
nests to rob, and found the apple, he would not 
have believed that Eve cared about this variety 
of fruit, consequently would have eaten it him- 
self without submitting the question or giving 
Eve the benefit of the doubt. 

We are soon upon our horses and commence 
the descent, feeling well paid for the anxiety of 
ascending. The downward course is more difii- 
cult. The attraction of gravitation tries so hard 
to get the better of us that we are obliged to 
brace ourselves painfully against its efforts. 



176 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

"We go faster at any rate than we did ascending, 
partly because the animals are homeward bound 
and are anxious for their browse. We do not 
stop at the toll house, only glance at it and pass 
on. Soon we are in the valley, and so accus- 
tomed to the motion of the horses that all anxi- 
ety is dropped. The guide falls behind to gossip 
with that dignitary of another party, as we no 
longer need his services. We met a large party 
going up to Snow's to remain all night, and be 
kept awake by the musical sound of roaring cat- 
aracts. Our horses do not like to give the trail; 
luckily we are not upon precipitous ground ; if 
our party had been, the others would not have 
been permitted to leave the toll house until we 
came; as it was there was little trouble and less 
danger; the horses crowding together and refus- 
ing to give up the trail, as if they had sole pos- 
session and did not mean to relinquish it. They 
persisted in placing tliemselves lengthwise across 
the track, and struggled to hold this position 
so that none of the other party could pass. 
Now comes the solid enjoyment of the trip. 
Beneath these grand and peaceful shades, across 



VERNAL AND NEVADA FALLS. 17T 

those picturesque pebble brooks we uncon- 
sciously scatter, each lingering carelessly behind 
the other, enjoying the scenes, each in own way 
or according to his particular fancy. The x^arty 
straggled on an hour, cling to the banks of the 
Merced. Observing its present tranquility one 
would hardly believe that this was the same 
stream which an hour ago came madly racing 
with the breeze down the mountain side. At 
five or half past the members of the party drop 
unceremoniously off to their various destinations, 
and when I rein my steed up at the hotel steps, 
not one of that file of fifteen persons is present. 
Some were already engaged, likely brushing the 
dust from their linen garments, others still 
lingered in the cool evening atmosphere contem- 
plating scenes which they are likely to behold 
but once in a lifetime. 
12 




MIEKOR LAKE. 

THIS beautiful little lake, lying between these 
gigantic walls, can be reached by a good car- 
riage road, with a short distance to walk. Many 
persons visit this picturesque piece of scenery 
without taking the trou])le to think why all lakes 
or ponds are not mirrors. The water, like the 
Merced, is soft, and clear as crystal, being mostly 
melted snow. I will here take occasion to say 
that the wells in the valley seem to be the same 
quality of water, partaking of the same clearness, 
coolness and softness. Such water is the greatest 
luxury upon earth, and its qualities do not cause 
illness, only from being taken into the system too 
cold. This lake being encompassed closely by a 
nich in the walls of the valley, its waters are 
as placid as the surface of a mirror; not a ripple 
in seen to disturb its peaceful bosom, unless may 
(178) 



MIRKOR LAKE. 179 

be by the jumping of the speckled trout. The 
time to visit it is between six and seven in the 
morning. One will never imagine bj hearing it 
spoken of what a perfect looking-glass can be 
formed of snow water and a dark background. 
There is no exaggeration in the dimensions of 
objects, no distortion of shape or color, and no 
looking-glass could give better satisfaction in 
portraying images. It must be visited at the 
right time, for after the sun shines over the walls 
of the valley it converts this grandest of mirrors 
into an insignificant fish or frog pond. It has 
no frogs, however, and the angling tourist and 
native Indian promise to destroy all the fish, 
unless some stringent game laws are enacted and 
rigidly enforced to protect the finny tribes from 
the above mentioned rapacious monsters. I am 
told by a resident that the Indians gather the 
minnows by tlie half bushel when not more than 
two or three inches long, and boil them for food. 
This is certainly a wretched way to destroy these 
pretty fishes, which should be kept for the benefit 
of the sporting public, and not for the practical 
utility of feeding a degraded savage. The depth 



180 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

of this water makes no difference with the per- 
fection of the mirror. The reflection is as perfect 
where the water is three inches deep as where it 
is four feet. When the sun can peep over this 
might J enclosure^ four thousand feet high, it is 
well to watch the effect of the light upon the 
trees where it first strikes with concentrated 
force. Its rays seem to turn the foliage into the 
most exquisite embossing of silver. This effect 
is reflected perfectly in the lake, and one can get 
as fine a view from looking downward as from gaz- 
ing upward. The rocky walls compose the frame 
of this wonderful looking-glass. The trees, shrubs 
and human beings, are as perfectly reflected as 
from any mirror suspended from the ceiling. 
There is a kind of rude building, with a platform 
built out into the edge of the water, and here a 
small boat is kept, manned by a hopeful young 
American; and for twenty-five cents one can be 
rowed out upon this looking-glass, and when the 
sun is shining its depth is fully revealed, for the 
pellucid waters can hide nothing. 



LEAYING YOSEMITE YALLEY. 



AT six in tlie morning the stage is in readi- 
ness. We have our breakfast and get in, 
driving about two miles, where men are at work 
upon the road. The Mariposa line at this date is 
not complete, but will be finished and in good 
running order by the time this waiting reaches 
the public. Saddle and pack horses are brought 
for us to ride two or three miles. After mount- 
ing we are informed that a number of blasts are 
about to be touched off, and the Chinamen come 
running back and hide themselves beneath the 
eaves of those steamboat rocks. We turn our 
horses backward a few feet, and the blasting 
commences. The reports — a dozen or more — 
follow in quick succession, and we are informed 
that the danger is over. The Chinamen creep 
from their hiding places and resume work; and 
(181), 



182 OVER THE PURPLE HIIXS 

we ride on, not, however, without a feeling that 
giant powder or nitro-gljcerine might be lying 
in ambush. The powder used in this operation 
does not cause the stones to ilj, but just bursts 
them open in the most satisfactory manner, leav- 
ing them loose to be removed by the pick and 
shovel. An intelligent Scotchman in our party 
w^as much pleased at being a witness to this 
blasting process, as he considered it quite a 
feature in his American travels. The trail for a 
short distance is so fearfully beset with sharp- 
edged stones, that I soon forgot the fear of latent 
fire-works in contemplation of new dangers. It 
is a wonder that the horses pass through such a 
path without blood upon their legs; but I heard 
of no accident. 

Here we have upon one hand the refreshing 
Merced, really swelled to the dignity of a river. 
The waters are tranquil, and of a lovely green 
color. Speckled trout were plainly to be seen 
disporting themselves in the clear water. If 
those fishes had passed through the foaming cas- 
cades which we had visited a day or two before, 
I do not think there would be many spots left 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 183 

upon them. There is mncli fording to be done 
about the Yosemite, the streams being narrow, 
deep and clear, the banks often very steep, and 
the waters have qnite a current and seem so 
swasliy that one feels as if there were surely a 
swimming prospect ahead. 

There is a little plant, of very thrifty growth, 
known as the Scotch Cap or thimble berry. This 
covers the ground in some places; is now in 
bloom, having a white blossom. The berries 
will be very plentiful in a few weeks. My late 
experience has cured me entirely of a desire to 
go berry hunting. Birds are so scarce in these 
high altitudes and gummy forests that fruit is 
secure from their depredations. Wherever there 
are trees, and fields of grain cultivated, the 
birds are quite numerous. There are no seedy 
weeds, and but limited undergrowth in these 
forests, because of the long dry season. There is 
not even a great variety of trees, what there are 
being mostly gum trees, and standing in groups, 
very free from underbrush; still the shade is 
thick enough to be complete. Tourists often 
remark the continued fine weather of this climate; 



184 OVER THE PUKPLE HILLS. 

one's plans are never frustrated because of storms 
of either wind or rain. If the hotels are crowded, 
and a room cannot be obtained, it is not thought 
a hardship to take a blanket and lie dow^n any 
place where one's person is safe. The children 
of a family frequently sleep upon the open porch 
of the house, this being their only bedroom for 
the entire summer season. I was observino: a 
bed of this description, Avhere the children — 
three little boys — had just risen to dress. It 
was a delightfully cool morning, bracing and 
healthful, and a family of dear little chickens 
came upon the bed and cuddled down betw^een 
the blankets and pillows, sj)reading their wings 
to catch the animal heat w^hich had not escaped, 
at the same time cooing and sajdng all manner 
of sweet chickadee things. The chickens were 
u]) in the morning a long time before the chil- 
dren were, had been to breakfast, and were now 
ready for a morning nap. 

I had almost forgotten that we were really 
leaving the glorious old Yosemite, a kind of 
garden of Eden without cultivation; but w^e must 
chat a little while slowly winding our w^ay 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 185 

through the shadj forest and across deep-seated 
streams. We have passed the great light-colored 
rock called the El Capitan — that is if we can 
pass it while in the vallej. Some of these large 
rocks are like the moon or stars — one may 
travel half the length of the vale, still they will 
be ever present. This fact goes far to prove their 
unappreciated magnitude. The El Capitan is 
three thousand three hundred feet high; and I 
will venture to assert that it is the most singular 
formed mass of matter on the face of the 2:lobe. 
One thing that makes it appear most wonderful 
is its apparent smootlmess and the fact that it 
differs in color so much from its immediate sur- 
roundings, being the shade of fine, thick, light- 
brown wrapping j)aper. In the j)olished sides 
of this monster, niches are to be seen where good 
sized trees are growing. Coming in upon the 
Coulterville route, imagination conjures up a 
figure upon the surface of this bowlder repre- 
senting a man with priestly robes and flowing 
beard. This figure is known as the Wandering 
Jew. One feels like addressing the El Capitan 
as an animated creature, although it has not the 



186 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

form of anything in the heavens, upon the earth, 
or under the earth ; still it has a head, face, sides, 
top and sloping back part. The matter that was 
once in close proximity must liave loosened its 
hold and slid into the abyss below, w^hich received 
the retreatinof earth, leaving: these mis^htv side 
walls and low valley. 

I am inclined to think that if some mining 
shaft were located near, pieces of El Capitan aifin- 
ities might be discovered a few hundred feet 
below. As it is, its individuality is as marked 
as if there had never been another particle of 
rock created bearing the least resemblance to 
this mighty j)atrician. There are discolored 
spots upon its sides suggesting the romantic 
idea that mother nature, in some of her quaking 
freaks, had upset the ink bottle from a nich or 
window-sill, and its contents had flowed freely 
over the delicate shades of El Capitan. Oppo- 
site is the Cathedral Rock. This vast pile I 
admire more than any rock in the valley except 
the Cap of Liberty. Its well defined spires, its 
moss covered sides, color and general shape give 
it the appearance of a ruined cathedral, grand 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 187 

and beautiful even in desolation. An nnsopliis- 
ticated but pretentious guide imposed upon the 
honest credulity of a party of tourists by stating 
that these spires were called the Roman Candles. 
This rock, although opposite the El Capitan, and 
perhaps a mile or two apart and a river flowing 
between, are as different in quality, color and 
form as if created upon different planets. Trees, 
grass and trailing vines have sprung up among 
the Cathedral ruins, and the body of the sup- 
posed church is spotted all over with a fine 
black moss, which gives it the appearance of 
being ornamented with black velvet buttons. 
Near tliis old pile the beautiful Bridal Yeil 
appears. This fall has also a voice, but differing 
so much from the others that one can hardly 
recognize it as belonging to the family of water- 
falls. It is a clear, distinct, indiscribable sound, 
more like that made by the running gear of 
machinery than like the falling of a mighty 
sheet of water. When it breaks upon the sight 
it seems like an animated creature calculated to 
enliven and give variety to its surroundings, 
those dumb, quiet, magnificent, rocky giants. 



188 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

While fording one of the many streams in our 
path, I cast my eyes np to the fall, and, to my 
delight and surprise, saw it overshadowed with 
a bright halo, like those represented in the 
imaginary pictures of Christ and his disciples. 
The morning sun shining upon the rising mist 
caused this beautiful phenomenon, and in the 
after part of the day brilliant rainbows encircle 
the fall like a skirt of shaded cashmere. This 
sheet descends nine hundred and forty feet, is 
one of the highest among the slender variety 
and appears like rockets coming down head 
foremost, the wake or tail lingering behind like 
that of a comet. It has also a sweet, w^holesome 
breath, is a free-will dispenser of the ordinance 
of baptism, as no one can approach its majestic 
presence without submitting to this sacred rite. 
Its misty blessings fall alike upon the just and 
the unjust, as much as to say, who is competent 
to judge the wicked. 

We now pass on, enjoying the cool, shady 
nooks, the flowing rivulets, and secluded moss 
covered rocks, the trees with an occasional sin- 
ewy root bared just to give one an idea of their 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 189 

grasping power upon earth. Now we are again 
upon one of those fearful mountain trails; not 
precipitous, however, but steep, dusty and filled 
with rolling stones which gather no moss. The 
mules are equal to the occasion, going cautiously 
along, stopping stark still to exchange greetings 
with others of their kind who have, with much 
cunning and perversity, hid themselves among 
the rocks until the hour of mule hunting had 
passed, and they now had ventured forth to 
browse and graze in quiet comfort. Josephus, 
the aged historic mule which I rode, proved 
himself capable of the passion of jealousy ; for, 
after seeing the others, he bolted out of the trail 
several times and commenced eating the brush 
as if he intended to get even as he journeyed. 

I reasoned with him; stating, as best I could, 
that many conditions arise outside of mule 
society that are unjust and very galling; but 
that superior creatures often submitted uncom- 
plainingly to those conditions. Notwithstand- 
ing all this fine talk I rather respected the mule 
for showing sufficient sense to bolt and assert 
himself. 



190 OVEK THE PURPLE HILLS. 

Upon reaching the end of the trail we find an 
encampment of about a hundred Chinamen at 
work making the new road. Here I beheld mj 
first blue-tailed lizzard. The colors w^ere so 
decidedly bright and blue that I could scarcely 
think of anything else for an honr. Women and 
girls have been maliciously accused, by the 
sterner sex, of creating, in Berlin wool, blue- 
tailed dogs and impossible General Washingtons, 
but as I never saw^ one of the aforesaid dogs, am 
inclined to think it a wicked and slanderous 
invention of a class ever ready to encourage the 
most frivolous occupations for my sex, and as 
ready to jeer and ridicule the w^orthless results. 
We are perfectly safe in producing blue-tailed 
lizzards, however, although I could scarcely 
have believed my senses. If I had not been cred- 
ibly informed that they are a distinct speci::, 
and plentiful among the rocks of these moun- 
tains, I should have thought this one an acci- 
dent in nature. 

Here we dismount, turn our saddled mules out 
to graze while waiting for the incoming passen- 
gers to take them back upon the trail we have 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 191 

just traversed. After looking about for awhile 
for a convenient place to take our lunch, one of 
the Chinamen called out, " John, John," in 
order to attract the attention of the gentleman, 
who turned and followed the Celestial, and was 
shown a tent apparently fitted up for the occa- 
sion, as there was a large flat stone for a table, 
this being surrounded by smaller ones for seats. 
After thanking the Chinaman, and congratulat- 
ing ourselves, we spread the board and took our 
lunch. The Chinaman brought us hot tea in 
little China bowls, and declined taking pay or 
money as a gift. After lunch the guide bor- 
rowed from the Chinaman a box for me to sit 
upon, and I had found a shady nook beneath a 
bank and was chatting with a resident of the 
mountains and our guide, two middle aged 
men, possessing much local information. The 
younger guides were over in the road, scuflling 
like a litter of half grown cur pups, and swear- 
ing apparently for amusement, just as people 
employ any accomplishment, music for instance, 
for their own enjoyment, expecting to be heard 
by others also. After a while we were startled 



192 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

by noisy conversation and the sound of blows, 
as if the playing had ended, as it usually does, 
in an angry light. I sprang up the bank which 
hid the contestants from view, and saw a China- 
man holding fast to a blanket, while one of the 
guides was kicking him most unmercifully. 
The Chinaman came twice to the ground, but 
made no resistance, only hastened away clinging 
to the blanket. In spite of my veneration and 
awe for everything that has a vote and wears 
breeches, I screamed out, ^* What are you doing, 
you rascally guide? Stop kicking that China- 
man!" And he did stop, and if he had not I 
should have transformed myself into a setting 
hen and been on his back in another minute. 
Of course he pretended not to hear anything that 
had been remarked by outsiders, and began to 
throw stones at some other Celestials. I sincerely 
think there is no absudity or inconsistency that 
is equal the conceit of the American democrat. 
When 1, with a woman's impulse, started for 
the field of action, armed with the instincts of 
justice and humanity, those men that I had 
been talking with said to me, " Don't go, those 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 193 

fellows may insult you." ''Great guns!" I 
replied, " the vanity of the bewhiskered ! Why, 
sir, a donkey might bray at one, or kick a body, 
but who would ever think of this act as an 
insult. What an idea, that any person could be 
insulted by words coming from the mouth of a 
profane, illiterate boor, because he belonged to 
the genus pantaloons. Those ignorant, blas- 
pheming asses; why, they are no more responsi- 
ble than so many orang-outangs, and when they 
become physically dangerous should be placed 
in irons, as they usually are, and led out and 
hanged like dogs, as many of them are." 

While this conversation was going on for the 
edification of the supercillious American dem- 
ocrat, one of the men took occasion to ask me 
if I was a " free lover." This was a little unex- 
pected digression from the subject, but when a 
woman undertakes to reason with a voter, there 
is no answering for the logical results. Said I, 
"if I say I am a free lover, of course you will say 
that you are one also," and before he had time to 
settle this point, some one came and told us 
what caused the trouble between the Chinaman 
13 



194 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

and oruide. The latter had taken the blanket 
without permission from the Celestial's tent, and 
the Chinaman had money rolled up in his blanket 
and was anxiously looking for it when he desired 
the guide to get off his blanket ; the guide 
answered that he should not do it, and the Chi- 
naman jerked it from under him, this exasper- 
ated the dignity of the insignificant representa- 
tive of the superior race so much that his injured 
manhood could not-refrain from kicking the poor, 
skinny old Chinaman. 

While I was doubly engaged righting the 
wrongs of common humanity and assailing the 
prejudices against my own sex, one of the 
younger Chinamen commenced to curse the 
guides. This fellow's attempt to profane the 
Christian Deity, and consign his enemies to 
their own eternal blazes, was the most complete 
farce that I ever witnessed, and I laughed heart- 
ily, notwithstanding the prospects were good for 
a bloody riot. The Cliinamen were gathered in 
groups all over the encampment. Their angry 
voices could be heard vociferating their threats, 
and the guides becoming alarmed, had relapsed 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 195 

into deathly silence, nervously waiting the action 
of the hostile Chinamen, or the arrival of the 
expected stages loaded with passengers which 
might have the effect to pnt a stop to the pro- 
ceedings. The overseer acknowledged that the 
Chinamen were getting beyond his control. 
They had already produced several pistols among 
them, a fearful looking old horse pistol, about 
two feet long. Directly the profane Chinaman 
who tried so hard to imitate the guides, came 
quietly and respectfully up to me and talked of 
the row. I said they had better not fight, as 
that would make great trouble and get some of 
them in jail. • That I was going direct to Merced, 
would see the General Superintendent, and likely 
he would discharge the rascally guide who had 
abused the Chinaman. That good people did 
not want to have the Chinamen hurt, and would 
not tolerate the fact of their being ill treated. 
While I was consoling this Celestial, a score of 
these little men came and seated themselves upon 
a burnt log lying near, while I occu^^ied the little 
cracker box, and talked words of comfort and 
encouragement. Presently the spokesman of 



196 OYER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

the party asked me to repeat what I had said to 
him, which I did, and he removed his hat, thanked 
me with half a dozen short bows, and said that 
he would go and tell the rest of his countrymen, 
and soon after their voices assumed a quiet, peace- 
ful tone, and they cast pleasant glances at me all 
the while I was in the encampment. 

I kept my word, and the superintendent went 
up next day and settled the difficulty to the sat- 
isfaction of the Chinamen. For once there 
was an unpleasantness and no woman at the 
bottom of it, but one at the top acting success- 
fully as peace commissioner. After waiting full 
two hours for the stage we were again upon the 
road. Among the incoming passengers, our 
Scotch friend discovered a countryman, and 
although they were not acquainted at home, they 
greeted one another like brothers. 

The initiated related to the stranger about how 
the trout of the valley were to be captured, stat- 
ing that the water is so clear and deep that the 
line must be inked and that the fly must be black, 
as they do not take to light colored bait and 
require different management entirely from the 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 197 

fishes at home. 'Now we are fairly out upon the 
Mariposa Road, one of the best mountain thor- 
oughfares in the State. The timber is very fine 
all along this route, and one can but regret that 
at present it is inaccessible for commercial pur- 
poses. Here, in these forests, I saw mj first snow 
plant, and it aj^peared the most out of place of 
anything that I ever observed in nature. This 
plant is a bulbous, fungus kind of a growth, 
standing about eight or ten inches high, and in 
clusters or families like the present trees. Per- 
haps vegetation combines its strength this way, 
in order to secure more moisture. The stem of 
the snow plant is shaj)ed like a variety of cactus 
called the pyramid cactus, and is as red as blood, 
and upon this little monument small bell formed 
flowers appear at regular intervals, but close as 
they can stand. The whole plant looks like red 
wax, the petals, stamens, all being of a dark, 
bright red. This curious vegetable, without a 
green leaf suggests the idea that it might be a 
growing monument, springing from the dry, 
brown soil to honor the memory and blood of 
heroes and martyrs who may in some worthy 



198 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

cause have moistened the soil with the life cur- 
rent. This plant frequently appears along side 
of patches of snow, but whether it rises out of 
the snow, I am unable upon reliable authority 
to state. There were no patches of snow where 
I saw it growing, although in a cool altitude. 
At a certain point upon the road a large flat 
stone is placed upright like a tombstone. This 
is said to be eight tliousand feet above the level 
of the sea. 

We reach Clark's at six o'clock, a hotel owned 
by the company and kept on purpose for the 
accommodation of tourists. Here we tarry for 
the night. The house is commodious and pleas- 
antly situated. A brisk fire is made every night 
and morning in a large open fire-place. At this 
altitude frost appears every month in the year. 
Trout are furnished for the table in abundance, 
but cooked in refuse grease in such a manner, 
that none but the hardiest could retain them 
upon the stomach. It is a disgrace to the com- 
pany that this rare and dainty dish, supplied so 
abundantly in this locality should be served so 
as to be unpalatable. For many persons the 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 199 

fishes have as great a charm as anything in the 
valley, and the way they are served leaves noth- 
ing for the memory but disappointment and 
disgust. The next morning we find saddled 
horses waiting for us to climb another mountain 
trail, a distance of about six miles, in order to 
see the Mariposa Big Trees, the grove which the 
government donated to the State for the benefit 
of the public. 

We have another enjoyable forest ride, where 
the sugar pine lifts its stately head to the sun 
and spreads its graceful branches, sjDorting as if 
at finger tips, a cluster of the largest and most 
beautiful cones among the pine family. There 
is a variety known as the Digger pine which 
bears a small nut used by the Indians as an arti- 
cle of food. The nut grows between the scales 
of the pine cone, and is easily rattled out upon 
a cloth. They are then stored in cribs made of 
boughs and sticks, something like a big rude 
corn crib, and kept for use at all seasons of the 
year. At eleven o'clock we reach a spring of 
this delightful mountain water, and stop for 
lunch, supposing that we are at the Big Trees. 



200 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

Here lies one fallen giant, a victim of fire which 
burned its roots, loosened its hold upon earth, 
and caused it to topple over. A wagon could be 
driven the distance of two hundred feet upon 
this prostrate trunk. We reach the top of the 
fallen log bj means of a ladder of the length of a 
common house ladder twelve or fourteen feet. 
The bark is beaten into a kind of down by the 
feet of tourists and looks as if it might be inval- 
uable for mouse nests. 

This tree is called Andrew Johnson, because it 
leans toward the South and because its top was 
shattered in falling. Our guide proves to be a 
treasure. He is middle aged, a man of good 
sense and much fine humor, takes excellent care 
of his horses, and helj^s to entertain parties with 
a fund of jocular stories or sound information if 
required. While we were taking our lunch he 
told how the bhiejays and woodpeckers make 
their sandwiches. They first peck the bark of a 
tree full of holes, then proceed to fill these per- 
forations with acorns; these are then left until 
the worms begin to work in them, when the birds 
consider them fit for use, as this provides them 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 201 

with both bread and meat at once in the form of 
a sandwich. He also related what he 'declared 
was a fact about the birds filling nuts into a 
hollow tree; that he discovered them at work 
like so many bees, flying back and forth; that he 
bored a hole in the tree where it would strike the 
hollow, and fastened a sack at the opening; that 
the nuts kept rolling into this sack, and that he 
used them to feed his fattening swine. When 
pressed to tell how and when the birds discov- 
ered this fraudulent operation, he refused to state, 
saying that there was no use of his trying to be 
entertaining, because we were so skeptical. I 
imagined the lonesome cry of these disgusted 
bluejays when they discovered that the bottom 
had fallen out of the bin holding their treasures, 
and the shrill shriek of the sorrowing woodpecker 
as he lifted his fiery smoking cap above the- tops 
of these lofty pines, and went sailing round 
chirping a disconsolate wail, evidently so demor- 
alized as to be unable to determine which way to 
fly or what to do next. Poor birds! poor birds! 
Man's inhumanity to birds, etc. 

As I was worrying my brain trying to find 



202 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

something to rlijrne with Burns without quoting 
his direct words, I cast my ejes upward, and dis- 
covered an opening in a tree about twenty feet 
from the ground, and this place was filled with 
uncorked bottles, clinched in so firmly that if our 
guide had told us that they were placed there by 
the avenging bluejay, and driven home by the 
angry woodpecker, I should have been half 
inclined to believe the story. The guide did 
relate to us the circumstance which brought the 
bottles there to our satisfaction, When a party 
had partaken of champagne until they became 
merry, they made bets as to who could make a 
bottle stick, and what we saw was the results. 
From the shallow nature of tlie cleft in tlie tree 
one would think it almost impossible to make a 
bottle stay; hence it appeared something of a 
feat, and in all probability several efforts were 
made upon each subject before it could be induced 
to take a sticking position. There is a small log 
house erected at this point, making a sleeping 
place for hunters, as grizzly bears and California 
lions are still too numerous in these mountain 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 203 

retreats to think of trusting one's person to sleep 
without protection. 

The big trees in this location are mostly named, 
many of them after the different Western States. 
Indiana, Ohio, Iowa, Illinois, and several other 
States were represented. Any person is per- 
mitted to name the trees, as it makes the groves 
more interesting. Parties desiring the names 
to become permanent must send a sign with the 
cognomen painted on it, and it will be placed 
upon the tree. Some persons have sent beautiful 
white marble, handsome enough for a door plate. 
Some of the names are uj)on plated metal, but 
most are upon jappaned tin, and placed high 
enough upon the ti-ee to prevent malicious depre- 
dations. 

After our lunch and story telling is ended we 
are told to mount our horses again, that we are 
going now through the real grove of big trees. 
For my part I thought with P. T. Barnum, that 
if they had anything larger than Andy Johnson 
to show that we had better take chloroform. 
These trees are not so tall in proportion as the 
pine, nor are they as deep rooted ; and if a fire 



204 OYER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

gets about the roots their hold upon earth for an 
upright position is slight, but they must ever 
remain a wonder for the world. There are seven 
or eight hundred in this grove, and this number 
being so near together is no less a wonder than 
their size. They are just the color of the earth, 
and one would think the soil upon which they 
stand exhausted forever from producing these 
monstrosities. It is a subject of much regret 
that these trees have been so injured by fire; but 
when one thinks of the matter, it is the greatest 
wonder of all how they could possibly escape 
being burned to the ground, and that the whole 
forest has not perished in the same way because 
of the long dry season, these trees being of the 
most inflammable kinds of timber, and the bark 
as light and dry as punk. The reason that these 
forests have not succumbed to fire is because 
there is very little underwood, and no rank 
grasses or growth of vegetation to feed the 
devouring element in its infancy or while it is 
creeping; and fire does not climb trees well until 
it is strong as a giant, backed closely by allies 
and immediate reinforcements. We spend a 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 205 

couple of hours in looking at the trees, riding 
among them. I will say little about the size of 
them, for there are regular scientific works to be 
had giving accurate information; but one of 
these trees, reader, is as large as five or six of 
the largest trees you ever saw put together. I 
fancied that our whole party looked wall-eyed 
for several days after visiting the big trees. It 
certainly expands one's ideas of things, and makes 
one almost ready to believe anything. 

We play circus by riding our horses through a 
fallen tree trunk about fifty feet long. This tree 
had been burned out, forming a cylinder while 
lying down. Our guide shows me a very fine 
perfect tree, not more than half as large as some 
other — perhaps twelve feet in diameter — and 
said that I might christen this with some name. 
I called it Minnesota, after the North Star State. 
Soon we come to another giant or handsome per- 
fect tree, and the guide called to the Scotch gen- 
tleman, saying that he might bestow some name 
upon this. The Scotchman lifted his hat and 
bowed, answering, "No such desecration." " O, 
^e,^^ said I, "upon your Scotch perversity; name 



206 OVER THE PUKPI,E HILLS. 

the tree, call it Eobert Burns." " Well," said 
he, " you name it." This, I think, was said that 
the diffident gentlemen might not be called upon 
for anything like ceremony in the presence of 
the company — ■ such a majestic platoon, mounted 
upon dignified, fierce-looking steeds. The ani- 
mals had all halted, waiting the action of the 
guide, who had turned about to settle this matter. 
I then took advantage of the audience, and called 
in a voice as if addressing a thousand persons, 
" Ladies and gentlemen, that this tree shall hence- 
forth and forever be known as Eobert Burns, the 
peasant poet of Scotland, in respect to the Scotch 
gentleman now visiting us; any person having 
objections, let them be stated now, or forever 
hereafter hold their peace.'' The company raised 
their hats, gave three cheers for Robert Burns, 
and went their way. The horses now begin to 
realize that they are headed homeward, and 
quicken their steps until they become brisk 
walkers. 

At six p. M. we are again at Clark's, where we 
remain over night, and at half-past five are upon 
the road for Merced. The obliging driver gave 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLKi\ 20T 

me the choice of a seat upon the outside, and 
came near having a scene with a San Francisco 
ruffian in order to keep his promise. Gallantry 
prevailed, however, even toward the strong- 
minded, and I take the seat of war and retain it, 
while the ruffian is compelled to find a place in 
another vehicle belonging to the same company. 
Upon this route of sixty-eight miles we change 
horses six or seven times and reach Merced at 
five o'clock. The coaches are new and hand- 
some, the horses are selected and matched with 
much care and taste, five being driven at once, 
three leaders and two wheelers. In one of the 
changes a Canadian pony was brought out and 
placed alongside of the other leaders. I imme- 
diately recognized a native of my own country 
and watched the movements of this compact 
built piece of horse flesh with much interest. 
The driver says that this little creature has out- 
worked tliree common teams already, and is still 
good for a summer's labor. It had such a baby 
or colty look beside the other horses, that I just 
wish it were possible for me to purchase the 
creature and place it in some horse heaven, 



208 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

abounding in clear streams and alfalfa grass, 
where it should do no more staging. When 
stopping to change, the greatest possible speed 
was used in getting the horses out of harness and 
the fresh ones in, as the driver was determined 
not to allow the stage containing the San Fran- 
cisco chap to pass. A passenger became inter- 
ested, dismounting from his seat upon top of the 
coach and assisting about the harness every time 
a change was made. The driver, a good fellow 
in the main, showed some symptoms of emo- 
tional insanity upon this occasion, as he would 
let nothing pass him nor permit other teams to 
remain long ahead. One poor old codger who 
was somewhat inspired came near getting a 
thrashing for running his horses in order to keep 
aliead until he reached his own home. The 
driver showed us a ravine where his team saw 
a g-rizzlv bear last summer. The monster was 
taking his breakfast from the carcass of a dead 
mule which was lying in the ravine. The horses 
saw him and became frantic; they started upon a 
run, the driver found it impossible to hold them, 
although he could keep them upon the road, 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 209 

they ran all the way to the next station and 
were trembling with fear and excitement when 
taken from the harness, casting suspicious 
glances about, as if they momently expected to 
be eaten alive. There was but one passenger in 
the coach and the driver said that he occupied 
all the seats in the vehicle, and sometimes all of 
them at once. There Avas no time for an expia- 
tion, and the j)assenger did not find out the 
cause of the unusual haste until they arrived at 
the station. That team refused afterwards to 
pass this ravine where the grizzly breakfasted, 
and were changed and put upon another route. 
I am half inclined to think that those horses 
had been demoralized listening to bugaboo 
stories told by superstitious drivers for the 
entertainment of over credulous travelers. The 
mountains here are used as one vast range for 
sheep and goats. Skirmishes occasionally arise 
between herders as to whom shall retain certain 
localities. As we change altitudes the mountain 
formation, soil and vegetation changes. We 
pass through the Fremont estate, the famous 
Mariposa grant. There was once a fine flourish- 
14 



210 OVER THE PUKPLE HILLS. 

ing town here, but like most of its mining 
cotemporaries, lias fallen into decay and ruin. 
A fifty stamp quartz mill, one of the best mod- 
ern structures in this State, stands the reverses 
of time like the dignified head of a great house, 
only the more susceptible parts showing decline, 
such as the window glass and discoloring of the 
paint. The little churches remind me of the 
fine weather-worn physiognomies of some of the 
old bachelors of this country, known as the 
knights of forty-nine, and it will be the regret 
of my life that I did not tarry a week at Mari- 
posa. The climate is in the altitude to be most 
delightful, and the bachelors ever ready to sacri- 
fice themselves in order to impart information 
to lady writers. Many of these heroes still live, 
many of them wealthy and gallant, with good 
health and fine eyes; men who have braved the 
temptations of frontier life and come safe and 
eound through the lonely clouds of unsocial life 
and years of social privations. I have met many 
such and sometimes regret that I am not a 
marrying subject. Believing as I do in the Dar- 
winian theory, and knowing as I do that I have 



LEAVING YOSEMITE VALLEY. 211 

not thrown off the sitting hen stage of evolu- 
tion, I will accept no offer of marriage until hen 
pecking becomes more popular. We stop but 
ten minutes at this delightful, at the same time 
dilapidated, town. At two o'clock we dine at a 
little place called Hornitos, a Spanish settlement. 
The hotel is kept by a Scotchman whose name is 
McDougal. Having a real woman for a wife 
this house is well kept, one of the best in the 
State. There is little in this world successfully 
accomplished without the refining influence and 
personal assistance of woman, and this house is 
a worthy example; the food is first class, and 
one does not think the charges high for such 
accommodations, and in this location, bearing 
the plains, the whole nature of the landscape 
becomes changed ; the water is poor, and already 
we begin to thirst for the beautiful Merced and 
its pebbly tributaries. The plains here for 
several miles are the most fearfully barren 
country under the sun; nothing more so unless 
it be a sandy desert. To be sure the grass 
springs up once a year green and fresh; it is 
short lived, however, leaving a dead brown all 



212 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

over the earth, relieved by a rocky formation of 
a most dismal aspect, appearing like an old 
cemetery with its head and footstones leaning 
every way, evincing tlie neglect that comes to 
the dead with years. The only living thing seen 
npon this desolate waste is the small brow^n 
birds which live like highway robbers, by 
what they can pick np on the road. Notwith- 
standing all this barrenness, the locality is 
mostly productive, and with irrigation, can be 
made to produce like a garden, and much of this 
very kind of desolation has been improved 
within the last live years. Trees can be grown 
so rapidly that little is thought of settling up 
some of these barrens where water can be pro- 
cured. We reach Merced at live, having beaten 
the other stage one hour, and driven sixty-eight 
miles in ten hours. The party look like wilted 
poppies, or a dust-covered, faded bouquet, and 
pass off sullenly to their rooms, without ex- 
changing a word, only wondering that any one 
could endure all this fatigue and iind themselves 
alive in the morning. 



THE YISALIA BEAKCH OF THE CEIST- 
TEAL PACIFIC EAILEOAD. 

LATHEOP is the name of the station where 
this branch connects with the Central Pa- 
cific Eailroad. The towns Modesto, Merced, 
Fresno, Yisalia and Bakersfield are all upon this 
line of road. Much of the country presents a 
dreary, barren appearance; but a chain of moun- 
tains are in sight, containing a supply of water 
that is to be the means of settling up these vast 
plains. For miles the surface is as level as- a 
house floor, appearing like packed sand. A true 
statement in regard to this smoothness seems 
almost incredible. It could not have been 
reduced to a more perfect level with a field 
roller. Adjoining this plain little mounds ap- 
pear, at first very low, increasing in size until 
(213) 



214 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

they remind one of the prairie dog villages or 
musk-rat tenements; this formation continues 
for miles. At first I thought some farmer had 
dumped compost in heaps upon the ground, 
leaving it to decompose for the purpose of en- 
riching the soil, but as the train whirls past 
thousands of acres of these little hillocks I begin 
to think that it is another of California's mon- 
strosities. Gradually these mounds become less, 
disappearing for the wonderful smooth level. 
These singular features must have been formed 
by the action of water upon a loose, movable soil. 
In spite of the dreary, barren appearance of the 
great plains they are becoming settled much 
faster than one would suppose if not acquainted 
with their real resources. Little groves of 
shades are appearing along, nearest the foot-hills, 
gradually pushing out upon the open plains, 
dwellings nestle in these shades, making an 
oasis of fertility upon the hitherto bleak desert. 
Shade and fruit trees can be grown so rapidly 
that the supply of water and a title to the land 
are the most important things to be considered; 
for legislative acts take away the necessity of 



VISALIA BRANCH RAILROAD. 215 

fencing, and the soil can be tilled bj machinery 
almost entirely. The steam plow may be driven 
to great advantage, and there are neither sticks 
nor stones to interfere with reaper and mower; 
and tlie fertility of this apparently barren soil is 
not to be questioned, as it has been thoroughly 
tested. 

These plains were formerly used entirely for 
grazing purposes. Herdsmen came with large 
droves of cattle that fed upon the tender grass 
that came forth during the winter rains. At 
present legislation has been in favor of protect- 
ing the agricultural interests, and the cattle, like 
tlie Indians, must be driven further away into 
inaccessible wilds or where the rugged formation 
makes the prospect for cultivation quite hope- 
less. 

Modesto is a trading point for Stanislaus 
county as well as the county seat. Merced is 
also a county seat, and is rejoicing in a new and 
very hamdsome court house. This is one of the 
principal points from which the famous Yose- 
mite is reached. It is surrounded for miles by 
wheat fields, and shades are extensively planted. 



216 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

Fresno is another county seat, belonging to 
Fresno county. This is a flourishing shanty 
town just in that stage of semi-civilization when 
feminine virtue is a thing fearful to contemplate. 
A lady book agent relates a good story of this 
j)lace, and as it contains a moral I will reproduce 
it for the benefit of other rural localities. The 
lady put up at the hotel and remained for several 
days; none of the women about the house ven- 
tured to speak to her, and only cast sidelong 
glances " of a dredful suz " nature. One after- 
noon a party of a dozen or more of these ma- 
trons and maids had convened for some kind of 
a buzzing bee. Few of them had been favored 
with a sight so rare and strange as a woman 
traveling without the protection of corduroy, 
and some of them desired to get a peep at the 
creature. The woman of the house, poor thing, 
by the way, is a married woman and had set her 
face against single women who travel alone and 
put up at hotels, fearing that in spite of her 
charms that another woman could, if so disposed, 
take advantage of the infirmaties of her John; 
so of course, her energies were exerted to pro- 



VISALIA BEANCH EAILKOAD. 217 

tect Jolin, which was all right and proper; just 
as it should be. The protection is much more 
frequently upon this hand then upon the other, 
notwithstanding the assumption of all Johns to 
the contrary. Well, to the story: The dame 
informed her guests that there was an aperture 
in the door of the lady's room, one that she had 
caused to be made for reasons best known to 
herself; that the company could repair to the 
second floor and file along the hall to the front 
porch, eveiy one taking a j)eep as she passed. 
Each one placed her hands under her bustle, as 
if to keep them unspotted from all wickedness 
on venturing one eye upon a thing of so doubt- 
ful a nature. Unfortunately, but quite naturally 
the scene proved too ridiculous for the gravity 
of some of the younger ones, who giggled out- 
right when the first brave was peeping. The 
lady, upon hearing the noise in the hall, open 
her door very unexpectedly before the first of 
the file had time to resume a normal attitude. 
The girls snickered, the matrons were struck 
dumb with suppressed virtue, while they leaned 
their backs against the wall and gazed until the 



218 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

lady had made a run down a flight of stairs, 
given some order and returned. Such virtue 
and awe are perfectly awful. 

I had, myself, some serious difficulty in 
conforming to the local customs of this particu- 
lar place. The train reached this point at mid- 
night and a public vehicle conveys passengers 
to a hotel. Besides myself, there was another 
individual possessed of sufficient audacity to be 
a female and to arrive at this town at that un- 
seemly hour of the night. This woman was a 
southwesterner, of the lean, lank kind; one 
whose forefathers had been reared among the 
North Carolina pines, and had caught the inspi- 
ration for a lofty carriage. She was so destitute 
of adipose tissue that I thought she was in the 
last stages of consumption. Thin as a shadow, 
with glassy black eyes, she was anything but a 
pleasing spectacle to encounter at this stilly 
hour of night. In due time we were seated in 
the parlor, waiting to be shown to our rooms. 
The skeleton woman had asked several charac- 
teristic questions; such as, were my parents 



VISALIA BRANCH EAILROAD. 219 

alive and well, whether I did not want to see 
them, etc. 

I was tired, sleepy, and not particularly amia- 
ble, and feeling the iron grasp of social intoler- 
ance, I rushed out of the room into the bar, 
supposed to be headquarters, in order to find 
some one to show us rooms. The first thing 
that burst upon my sleepy vision was a row of 
men standing at the counter with glasses raised 
ready to take a drink. Said I to the man beliind 
the bar, " Why don't you show us women our 
rooms? What is your object in keeping us sit- 
ting up the rest of the night?" The proprietor 
answered in an apolegetic tone, " We only came 
in here to register our names, ma'am." "Well," 
said I, "it takes a very long time for you to 
register, considering that you are supposed to 
only be able to make your mark." Said he, " It 
took some time to mix the fluids." Said I, 
" Yes, and it will take more time to wipe those 
glasses." The fellow trembled, but managed to 
wipe the glasses, casting fearful glances at me in 
the meantime. At last he looked for a room 
and returned, saying that there was but one 



220 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

vacant, and asked me if I would have any objec- 
tion to sharing mj bed with the strange woman. 
"Great guns!" I exclaimed, "I would as soon 
lie down in the embrace of death. If you had 
not rooms for us, why did you bring us here and 
never notify us until everybody is in bed at the 
other public houses?" I made use of some of 
the most decided expressions that I had ever 
added to my vocabulary. The result was that I 
was shown the room without more words. I 
felt a little uneasy for the comfort of the other 
Avoman, fearing that she might die before 
morning, but that uneasiness did not amount to 
enough to turn my room into a public hospital. 
I afterwards learned that she was hung upon a 
hook in the hall to keep the breeze from wafting 
her away in the dark; at daylight she was taken 
down and placed in a reclining position upon a 
sofa with her extremities upon the floor; in this 
attitude she was found when the servants opened 
the parlor door in the morning. I was told 
afterward that this woman was not an invalid; 
that this thinness was normal; that she had the 
nervous vital temperament, and could adapt 



YISATJA BRANCH EAILEOAD. 221 

herself to almost any condition or circumstance. 
While I tarried here the hotel proprietor would 
dodge involuntarily every time he saw me com- 
ing, always finding business in another direction. 
I occasionally meet a wedding party at hotels 
where I am stopping, and can always tell them 
from other people because the waiter in the 
dining-room tips up the chairs at their table, 
and because the bride hangs on the bridegroom's 
arm in a languishing manner. This looks very 
silly, and my opinion is that the beauty of being 
newly married is to behave as if it were nothing 
unusual; appear as much like old married folks 
as possible, not speaking or taking any notice of 
one another only when it is impossible to avoid 
it. I have just another word to say in regard to 
young people marrying — that is, that lady 
teachers shall not marry men who are teachers 
also, it is not a profitable cross. Supposing the 
children should inherit a double dose of pedantry 
and be obliged from early life to wear glasses 
and walk stiff-legged, what would they be good 
for? At Tulare I was apprised of a singular cir- 
cumstance that may be of public interest; that 



222 OVEE THE PURPLE HILLS. 

there is a swine-herder in that vicinity by the 
name of Ham, black by name and nature, truly 
a queer coincidence. Yisalia, the county seat of 
Tulare county, lies about a mile from the rail- 
road. It has three thousand inhabitants, mostly 
southerners and southwesterns. There is a great 
number of old men in this place; likely those 
who have been impoverished by the calamities 
of war and found homes here in this warm cli- 
mate where less exertion is required to procure a 
livlihood, and the warm climate is conducive to 
longevity. Yisalia and the country around has 
the most beautiful and extensive groves of the 
native oak that I have observed in the whole 
State of California. The inhabitants have had 
the bad taste to cut down many of these elegant 
trees and plant little stripling fancy shades in 
their places. These noble trees were made on 
purpose to shade the earth and form an asylum 
for man and other animals, and no ornamental 
tree can ever serve this purpose as well. Wheat 
is grown extensively in this region. The grapes 
are too sweet for wine making, are only fit for 
raisins. The weather gets very hot during sum- 



VISALIA BRANCH RAILROAD. 223 

mer, being away from ocean breezes and tlie 
altitude is not sufficient to modify a tropical sun 
as it does in some localities. While staying in 
this place I had a cat adventure which I will 
relate, as it may throw some light upon the 
-habits of domestic animals in this region. My 
window opened upon the roof of another part 
of the building; at midnight I heard a sound as 
if some person were trying to get in. Spring- 
ing from my bed in terror, I exclaimed, " "Who 
is there?" at the same time passing my head out 
of the casement. I saw nothing but a large 
yellow cat, and it answered in the most placid 
manner with a long rolling purr. I said to him, 
"What are you doing around here at this time 
of night." The cat answered meekly, as well as 
cats can, that he was looking for another feline 
which had been lost for several days. I accepted 
this as an excuse, thinking it better than none, 
but closed my window, not however without 
saying a few words of comfort to the lonely wan- 
derer that duty called into this midnight service. 



MONTEEEY. 

THIS quaint old town was the former county 
seat of Monterey county. It is handsomely 
situated upon the southern part of the bay of the 
same name ; has nearly or quite four thousand 
inhabitants, and is one of the most wonderfully 
contrived collections of houses to be seen this 
side of Mexico. If the buildings had been 
dropped down from the moon, one house at a 
time, it could not present a more deranged con- 
glomeration. They are mostly of the old Span- 
ish stj^le, the material adobe, the shape long, low 
and porched, and plastered upon the outside ; 
white in color, with tiled roofs, and little prism 
like windows set in the thick walls with iron 
bars running up and down like those on our 
insane asylums. The rafters for the roofs are 
(224) 



MONTEREY. 225 

tied, in place by thongs of un tanned bnllock's 
hide, which have stood the storms of a century, 
and may be good for another. The tiled roofs 
are a great curiosity to persons not accustomed 
to seeing them. The tiles are of a light brick or 
cinnamon color, and look like long earthen flower 
pots, split in two lengthwise, or like a length of 
red earthen stove pipe (if one can imagine such 
a thing), and then split it lengthwise. The 
lower row placed with concave side upwards, the 
upper row with concave side downwards, forming 
little troughs for carrying oif the water. The 
bark of trees have been used in the same manner 
for primitive dwellings and out buildings. In 
fact these tiles suggest the idea of huge rolls of 
cinnamon bark placed upon the roof to cure. 

Some of these Monterey structures stretch 
half the length of a block or more, with no way 
of reaching the back yard, unless entrance is 
made at the front door, or one must pass clear 
around " Robin Hood's barn." The doors and 
windows occur at regular intervals, and the 
fronts have the strictly secluded appearance of a 
nunnery. I am not certain whether one of these 
15 



226 OVER THE PtJEPLE HILLS 

blocks are owned bj a single proprietor, or if 
the ancient builder joined walls with his neigh- 
bor; if the latter supposition be true, the joining 
was very smoothly done. 

Observing a card upon one of the numerous 
doors, announcing "To let, or for sale," I won- 
dered if this referred to one compartment or the 
whole lono: row. There is no re2:ularitv in the 
streets. In some places the thoroughfare must 
continue alongside of a house very straight, then 
its course is interrupted by a three cornered 
structure standing jnst where the road should 
continue ; the consequence is, there is a branch- 
ing off each side of the impediment, and an angle 
taken in some unexpected direction. A few 
buildings stand protruding cornerwise into the 
street. One comes to the conclusion that every 
man caused his lot to face which way it best 
pleased him, and that no two fronts consecutively 
in one direction. A few of the gardens are 
enclosed with a wall of stone five or six feet in 
height. These have the appearance of jail yards, 
and completely obscure from sight the growth 
of vegetation in them. These enclosures include 



MONTEREY. 227 

the back part of the house, and have one other 
entrance, a ponderous old fashioned gate, which 
is falling into decay, having a slothful, neg- 
lected appearance. Most of them have outlived 
their curious hinges and are j^ropped up by a rail 
or in some unwarlike manner, for everything 
about the place proves the necessity of fortifica- 
tions in an early day against Indians, wild beasts 
and the thie^dng laymen of the established church. 
The population of Monterey is as mixed and 
irregular as are its buildings and thoroughfares; 
being composed of Spaniards, Italians, Old Cal- 
ifornians, Digger Indians, French, German, Irish, 
English and Americans. The Catholic is the 
prevailing faith, hence newspapers have a fitful 
existence and generally die young. This place 
was the early home of Yasques, the notorious 
robber. For a general thing the Spaniards seem 
to have no visible means of su2:)port. If a circus 
comes that way their last chicken will be sold to 
defray the expenses of the entertainment. To 
justify themselves in becoming marauders, many 
of them speak of the American with a sense of 
injury, after the manner of the "noble red man," 



228 OVEK THE PURPLE HILLS. 

as if he were an unwelcome intruder who had 
defrauded them of their birth-right and swindled 
them out of the chance of competition in the 
race of life. The idiosyncracies of this people 
are as j)eculiar as their structures and streets. 

I could scarcely leave my hotel and turn a 
corner without being lost, in the tortuous mean- 
derings of the deviating ways of its thorough- 
fares. A young goose strayed from the flock 
within the sound of their answering voices 
screamed and called for half a day, evidently in 
great trouble, running back and forth and return- 
ing every few minutes to the spot from whence 
she started. At last I concluded that it was 
hardly just to expect a goose to know more of 
these streets than the people do, although hatch- 
ed and bred within its crooked and uncertain 
precincts, so I started off and spent half an hour 
in getting her back to her sympathizing kindred. 
"When the clan saw us coming they presented a 
file of snowy breasts and made very low bows, 
telling in goose latin as best they could, how 
pleased they were that the prodigal goose had 
returned.- Every one exj^ressed thanks to me 



MONTEREY. 229 

and congratulations to her. I replied in English 
that it was no trouble at all, that I was tired of 
hearing her lonesome call and the sorrow^ful echo, 
and when I walked away, fancied that one old 
gander tried to quote what he remembered of 
^* Little Breeches," but his mouth was so full of 
the tender blades of grass, that I could not dis- 
tinctly understand. 

Monterey will now be somewhat aroused from 
its conservative lethargy, as it is the terminus of 
a railroad connecting it with San Francisco and 
many of the intervening towns upon the coast. 
This port was formerly quite a resort for whales, 
which came in from the ocean for the chance of 
procuring food in the more shallow waters of the 
bay. It is said that with this creature the period 
of gestation commences in the' North, and is 
finished in the Southern seas, where the young 
ones can be received with a warm bath; that this 
is one of their stopping places upon their transit 
from ocean to ocean; that they do not call as 
frequently as they did twenty years ago, because 
they have been mercilessly slaughtered here. 
However, I never hear of Monterey but that they 



230 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

have taken another whale, which the whole popu- 
lation turn out to see, as if it were a novelty. 
Perhaps the difference in the size of these crea- 
tures makes it a novelty to the most experienced. 
The beach is strewn with the bleaching bones of 
these sea monsters, and sections of vertebra a 
foot across are converted into sidewalks, stretch- 
ing half a blockj or tlie length of an adobe house. 
It is supposed that only inexperienced, restless 
young whales, which refuse to follow the advice 
of their seniors, now put in at this landing, 
where so many have lost their lives. The town 
of Monterey is backed by a fine tract of farming 
land, known as Salinus Valley. Yast quantities 
of wheat are raised here. The new railroad is 
just completed, and upon the above date a large 
vessel had arrived, to be loaded with wheat for 
the Liverpool market. The arrival was hailed 
as quite an event, as no vessel of this importance 
had been seen in this port within the recollection 
of the middle aged of the present generation." 
The wharves were not in passable condition, but 
men were set to work at once to improve them, 



MONTEREY. 231 

and new ones are in course of construction. An 
old rusty cannon was brought out, and a few 
salutes fired in honor of the event. In the course 
of six hours the entire population had visited the 
incomplete wharf to behold the beautiful stranger, 
which was anchored at such a provoking distance 
that one could not decipher tlie name; and as 
there were so many rash statements made in 
regard to the number of tons the vessel would 
carry, I did not dare trust to heresay for the 
name of the respected visitor. 

The great variety of mosses and shells found 
in this bay are among the curiosities of pleasure 
seekers who come to this coast, and also of those 
who are residents of the State. Many come here 
during summer and camp out, that they may 
better enjoy the delightful wonders of the sea. 
The varigated abalone shell is found here and 
worked into very pretty jewelry by the Spaniards, 
and sold surprisingly low, considering the fact 
that they are manufactured by hand — a very 
tedious process. I was informed by a Yankee 
jeweler that they could be made with the help 



232 



OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 



of a lathe, which will greatly facilitate the pro- 
cess, and give the poor conservative native 
another cause for condemning American innova- 
tion and enterprise. 
October. 



*?/-%^ 




YALLEJO. 



VALLEJO is the principle town in Solano 
county, is situated on the east side of San 
Pablo Bay. From San Francisco it is reached 
by boats running up the bay of the same name. 
A railroad connects it with the towns of the 
more northern counties. Yallejo received its 
name from a Spanish governor of that cognomen, 
who nsed to own most of the land about the 
place. The town is located among the barren 
hills of the coast range. No verdure greets the 
eye but that planted hj the hands of man. The 
scenery is mountainous, being the ever occurring 
round mounds as far as the vision reaches upon 
one hand, upon the other the placid waters of 
San Pablo Bay. The town has about six thou- 
sand inhabitants, and many characteristic pecu- 
liarities; likewise a history of its own. 
(233) 



234 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

One of the institutions is known as the Good 
Templars' Orphans' Home, a fine building, loca- 
ted upon one of those barren hills where the 
winds sweep with such force as to preclude the 
possibility of raising shrubbery; for the same 
reason the children are seldom seen playing in 
the yards. The building appears to the observer 
like a grand castle set upon a rock, defying the 
winds which are said to be tempered to the 
shorn lamb, although shearing the hills of ever 
attempt at vegetable growth. This home is 
supported by the good templars of the State, is 
managed by women and controlled by a com- 
mittee of men. There are, at present, about one 
hundred children in the institution, and notwith- 
standing the name they are mostly the children 
of the inebriate. As the temperate man is 
more capable of providing for his own than the 
intemperate, there is little necessity of an insti- 
tution of this kind for the former. 

Another of the peculiarities of Yallejo is the 
navy yard, which is located upon a little oblong 
island rising from the waters of the bay. Tliis 
body of land is known as Mare Island, and upon 



VALLEJO. 235 

it are situated the navy hospital, the dry dock, 
the government machine shops and the resi- 
dences of the naval officers. The grounds are 
laid out in fine walks with beautiful flowers, 
many of which bloom the year round. Those 
naval officers appear to be a well fed dominant 
set of toadies as ever served a government with 
good pay for little work. Just before election 
fifteen hundred or two thousand men are put 
upon the government works, only to be dis- 
charged after their votes are secured. The 
degrading effects of buying and selling voters is 
very apparent among the population, or certain 
features arise from the fact that only the most 
degraded of men can be bought and sold like 
so many cattle. 

The hospital is without a matron, and when 
the principal physician was questioned in regard 
to the selfishness of man for monopolizing all 
the offices, he replied that women had not yet 
sufficient political influence to secure a posi- 
tion and hold it. I replied that woman had 
sufficient political influence to be tried and hung 
for treason, if not sufficient to receive the emol- 



236 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

uments of office. There is many a poor deserv- 
ing widow of intelligence and refinement that 
would gladly exchange the drudgery of the 
needle for such a position, and it rightly belongs 
to some woman. Our sex should be represented 
in every department of the government. 

Ships are built and repaired upon this island, 
the timber being brought from Puget Sound. 
A ferry boat, running every half hour, connects 
Mare Island with Yallejo proper. The w^ork- 
men who are employed by the government 
mostly live in Yallejo, and it is a rare sight to 
see them trudging past regularly, at eight in the 
morning and five in the evening, each armed 
with the inevitable dinner pail. The street is 
cleared of other pedestrians, there being an 
expressed aversion to going out at those hours; 
perhaps because it is never pleasant to meet an 
army face to face, under any circumstances. 

Yallejo was talked of as the capital of the 
State at one time. There were two sessions of 
the legislature commenced here, both adjourned 
to other places to finish — one to Benicia, the 
home of the famous Benicia Boy, the pugilist, 



VALLEJO. 237 

the other adjourned to Sacramento. In moving, 
the members were obliged to brave both mud 
and flood, which they did in order to secure the 
better facilities of the other towns in the way of 
business excitement, the variety of their fluids 
and for many unknown reasons. It was not 
expected by an over generous people that Yal- 
lejo could hold, for one entire session, that 
excitable body of highly intelligent men who 
are supposed to possess an order of brain that 
soars far beyond all earthly restraint. The 
legislature of those days was really a " Circum- 
locution Office," with the opportunity of putting 
in practice " How not to do it." Like boys in 
an ungraded country school, they were permitted 
to move their seats to any part of the State, in 
order to avoid what might occur to mar their 
happiness, from the primitive condition of 
things. And without doubt, like the school 
boy, many of the inconveniences became im- 
maginary, and that seats were moved just for 
the novelty of changing places. The school boy 
manner still clings to some of the principal 
men of Yallejo. A citizen and voter, who has 
yellow curls and golden beard, who looks like a 



238 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

gentleman, upon the outside, and who passes 
among six foot men for a gentleman, was known 
to abuse an inoffensive business woman, just as 
a great, rough, uncouth school boy will some- 
times use offensive language to the most sensi- 
tive little girl in the class, for the purpose of 
showing how beautj and the beast appear when 
chance places them upon the same foraging 
ground. Yallejo has a parrot, too, which par- 
takes, to some extent, of the peculiarities of the 
place and the school boy style. I was seated in 
the office of that estimable gentleman, Colonel 
Hubbs, and Polly was in her cage, just back of 
my chair. Presently the bird muttered out: 
" Polly wants her coat." I asked for an expla- 
nation, and was told that she was calling for an 
old coat that had been placed over her cage to 
keep her warm. A farmer came in, during the 
conversation ; his hair was rather long, his pants 
were of a color that would justify me in calling 
him a Missourian. Polly turned up her eye, 
took a good look at him, and called out: "How 
d'ye do, Daddy; how d'ye do, Old Hoss?" At 
this novel salutation the farmer laughed until the 
tears came in his eyes. 



PLACEEYILLE. 

n[^HIS fine, handsome, at the same time dilap- 
J- idated town, is the county seat of Eldorado 
county, is situated twelve miles north of the 
Sacramento Yalley Railroad, and reached by 
stages from Diamond Springs, the present ter- 
minus of the road, Placerville is a mining 
town, and twelve or fifteen years ago contained 
eight or ten thousand inhabitants. As the min- 
ing interests changed throughout the State, 
becoming systematized and consolidated, this 
place, like all the mountain towns, fell into a 
rapid decline. Its population will not now 
number over three thousand. Having the finest 
climate in the world, like ancient Home much 
of its original attractiveness still lingers about 
the quiet streets, dainty little homes and deserted 
(239) 



240 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

business buildings. The location and altitude 
combine to make the atmosphere so sweet that 
I fancied it had a taste like Bartlett Spring 
Water. Tliis climate is wonderfully exhilarating. 
I found myself enduring a walk of many miles 
with little fatigue, and was surprised that one 
night's sleep could dissipate the effects of so 
much exertion. 

The inhabitants have fair, clear complexions, 
and I fancy that they are morally superior to 
the inhabitants in the valleys. The hoodlum 
element certainly does not flourish to any great 
extent, for the window panes of those vacant 
houses remain unmolested, which fact speaks 
volumes for the youth of the town. 

The inhabitants complain of suffering much 
from the tyranny of a railroad company; having 
contributed heavily toward the construction of 
a road which fails to come to their contract and 
expectations by a distance of twelve miles. The 
town is much in debt. In order to escape the 
penalty of indebtedness, their corporation is 
dissolved; the town officials resigned as soon as 
elected. It seems sad to leave those beautiful 



PLACERVILLE. 241 

shades for the pecnniaiy prospects of the less 
healthful but more hopeful valleys. If Oliver 
Goldsmith could have had such a field for his 
fertile imagination as the ruined or decayed 
mountain towns of the Golden State, lie might 
have indulged in deserted villaeres to his heart's 
content. 

Abundance of fruit is raised in the vicinity 
of Placerville. As the mountain fruits are 
much superior to that raised in the valley, this 
commodity generally finds a ready market; is 
canned, dried, preserved, made into jellies and 
sold fresh in many parts of the State. Plumbs- 
are a marvel of variety, size and flavor. I was 
one day sitting beneath a tree which I supposed 
to be an apple tree, leaded with green fruit. I 
reached up to a limb, plucked one, when to my 
surprise I found a soft green plum as large as a 
teacup, and of a most excellent flavor, having 
just the general appearance of a thrifty half 
grown ajjple. Blackberries, the fruit of the 
bramble, 'are grown in abundance. Indeed, if 
any care or pains are taken, the finest fruits in 
the world can be grown here. There is just 
16 



242 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

enough frost to give the apples and peaches a 
fine flavor which thej do not get in the vallejs. 
I was much amused, while stopping there, at a 
flock of geese, which go about the streets like 
privileged characters. Every day, in my wan- 
derings, I managed to hold a conversation with 
these loquacious bipeds. The Beecher scandal 
was the topic of the 'day, and to the snowy 
breasts of these inoffensive birds did I commit 
my opinions; and the answers which were 
returned proved quite as satisfactory to me as 
the general comments of the press, for and 
against. AVhen I interrogated the geese about 
the proj)riety of having every editor in the 
country arrested for sending obscene literature 
through the United States mail, the geese all 
joined together and faii'ly screamed their ap- 
proval, crossing their white necks and following 
alongside of the wooden walks for the distance 
of a whole block. These and similarly constitu- 
ted bipeds are the only creatures with whom I 
enjoy small talk; they are not ofi^ensively opin- 
ionated upon subjects of which they know com- 
paritively nothing. They seldom or never go 



PLACEBVILI.E. 



24a 



beyond their depth while conversing, although 
fond of water thej seldom slop over. These 
creatures become so readilj^ educated, in a short 
time, as to give you just the answers required; 
and to a person intolerent of the opinions of 
others this fact is highly satisfactory. 




SALT LAKE CITY 

THE Mormon city contains fifteen or twenty 
thousand inhabitants. In the entire terri- 
tory there are about one hundred and fifty thou- 
sand persons, one-fifth of this population being 
Gentiles. A German Jew says, " this is a coun- 
try where the Jews are all Gentiles." Owing to 
the peculiar character of the social institutions 
of this people, the business portion of the city 
is much smaller than other cities of its popula- 
tion, hence it is a town of extended suburbs. 
This is perhaps partly owing to the fact that 
their civilization is in an exceedingly primitive 
state, and their manner of living decidely sim- 
ple, and partly from the fact that their business 
is conducted upon the co-operative plan, conse- 
quently very much concentrated. Salt Lake City 

(244) 



SALT LAKE CITY. 246 

is well laid out, with wide streets, beautifully 
shaded, and a range of mountains forming a 
picturesque back ground: one of its most charm- 
ing features being the sparkling rivulets running 
along each side of its main thoroughfares. The 
moisture from these brooks is sufficient to cover 
the banks with a green grassy growth, and the 
voice of the rippling waters give a peculiar charm 
to its vicinity. These rivulets are frequently 
turned aside in their course and used for irrigating 
gardens, for domestic purposes, and for watering 
the dusty streets. 

My room was near the Museum, in the cottage 
occupied by Brigham Young's seventeeth wife, 
Harriet Barney Young. This location is adja- 
cent to the Tabernacle. From my room door I 
had an excellent opportunity to speculate upon 
the style of the Tabernacle architecture. It is 
said that the more elegant architectural struct- 
ures of a people are always modeled from its first 
primitive dwellings. For instance, the Chinese 
Temples were patterns of the round cloth tent ; 
the Gothic houses from the tent of boughs. I 
cannot, however, imagine anything from which 



246 OVER THE PUEPLE HILLS. 

this Mormon Tabernacle could have been mod- 
eled, unless it should be a large, oblong, bag 
pudding, placed upon a platter ready to be served 
to a goodly number of hungry harvest hands. 
A people whose highest ideas of life have lain 
in a plum pudding, may have fashioned their 
Temple after the same. 

The roof is made of shingles and not covered 
with tin. The block of ground upon which the 
Tabernacle is placed, is enclosed with a high 
wall, said to have been first built as a defense 
against Indians. The Indians were, however, 
easily reconciled to Mormonism, being already 
polygamists, and believing in the slavery of 
women ; all they had to do was to be baptized, 
and they were better Mormons than can ever be 
made of the Anglo Saxon race; as all orders of 
the priest-hood have ever found the latter race 
prone to backslide as soon as they had an oppor- 
tunity to learn to read. One is surprised to see 
the great numbers of deformed people upon the 
streets of Salt Lake City. All manner of deform- 
ity is represented here. I thought at first that 
some institution of malformations were having a 



SALT LAKE CITY. 247 

holiday, but learned that this feature is the result 
of the Mormon doctrine of curing by miracles; 
but for the lack of faith, most of them are 
bound to go through life warped physically as 
they have been mentally. The climate of Utah 
like that of California, is without rain during 
the summer months, although owing to its alti- 
tude it is much colder in winter. The sand 
storms peculiar to this region is perhaps one of 
its most objectionable features, although no worse, 
may be, than the faults of any country. The 
sweeping wind which Mark Twain denominates 
the Mountain Zephyr, comes tearing through 
the valley, filling the air with dust and sand, so 
that respiration becomes difficult and the inhab- 
itants speedily seek the nearest shelter. These 
storms have a peculiar hissing sound combined 
with the roar of the wind and are in miniature 
what takes place in the great desert of Sahara. 
Whirlwinds occasionally form, carrying the sand 
and dust a hundred feet or more into the air. 
At times three or four of these whirlwinds may 
be seen waltzing upon the plains at once. As 
long as they keep a respectful distance, their 



248 OVER THE PDKPLE HILLS. 

capers are rather edifying, but outsiders never 
care to have waltzers come too near the corn field. 
Salt Lake, the dead sea of America, is well worth 
visiting. It is located about twenty-five miles 
from the city, is forty miles in length and twenty- 
five in width, is connected to the city by rail and 
is famous as a place of resort for the native pop- 
ulation. The waters are supposed to possess 
wonderful curative powers, which would be noth- 
ing incredible for such a strong comj)Ound. Phi- 
losophy says that this saline matter has been 
accumulating for ages as salt lakes have no out- 
let; that if they had an outlet, this saline con- 
dition would cease to exist. The waters of this 
lake contain as much salt as it can hold in solu- 
tion ; to the taste it does not seem to have any 
other foreign matter, being not at all brackish. 
The only animal life found in this salt basin is a 
little insect about as large as a mosquito ; this tiny 
creature appears to be dressed in a fringe of deli- 
cate scarlet feathers, and are only observed when 
there is froth gathered upon the water. There 
is running upon this lake, a stern wheel steamer, 
called the "General Garfield;" the accommoda- 



SAI.T LAKE CITT. 249 

tions are good and the tourist will find it a pleas- 
ant trip to take when on the way to visit the 
wonders of California. 

Persons desiring a bath should provide them- 
selves with a bathing suit before leaving the city. 
The dresses at the bath houses are left as they 
have been used by others, so coated with salt 
that it is quite impossible to get into one, besides 
most of them are flowing garments, and nothing 
but tight dresses should be used. Blue drilling 
overalls, with a cheap cotton or flannel shirt, 
which one can buy ready made, afibrds an appro- 
priate outfit. A Mormon patriarch supplied me 
with this outfit, and I feel prepared to recom- 
mend it. I should have lost the opportunity of 
taking a batli but for this act of generosity on 
the part of the Mormon, and he was obliged to 
forego the pleasure of a bath himself until another 
time, as we all remained in the water until train 
time. 

I thought surely that I had no right to expect 
to survive this bath of two hours duration, but 
found it quite impossible to get away from those 
persistent Mormons. Like the English, the 



250 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

world over, they are bound to have their own 
way, and control all that is near them; and they 
will nearly smother one with their officious hos- 
pitality. It is the sheer, persistent, selfish will 
of these people that causes them to hold so many 
women in that abominable slavery. I have 
never observed that simple element so strongly 
marked in any other nationality, except the Eng- 
lish The bath did me no injury, however, aside 
from the fact that I was so exhausted that I did 
not sit up much of the time upon the following 
day. There was no lameness or soreness from 
the unusual exercise, and upon the whole I was 
benefitted; but staying in the strange element, 
cutting all manner of physical maneuvers, tired 
me to such an extent, that one night's rest was 
not sufficient to recuperate exhausted energies. 
It is said that one cannot sink in this water, 
but I'll assure you that if they cannot swim and 
get beyond their de])th, that they will find them- 
selves reversing positions and attempting to 
stand upon their heads ; as by the laws of grav- 
itation the head is heavier than the feet, the 
latter will come to the surface like corks. Few 



SALT LAKE CITY. 251 

of the ladies could swim, and to obviate this 
difficulty, a wooden frame was brought which 
was about half the size of a seven by nine win- 
dow sash; by placing one hand upon this frame 
and keeping the head out of water, the body 
would lie upon the surface as if made of wood, 
and the sensation of being borne uj)on the water 
is delightful. Upon leaving the bath I found 
myself unable to stand without assistance, under 
the weight of saline matter gathered upon my 
bathing dress. The weight, of course is not 
observable while one is in the water, but when 
walking through the shallow beach to reach the 
bath house, a person becomes a weighty consid- 
eration — one feels as if clothed in a sheet of 
lead. By the time the dress is removed the skin 
will be dry, and all that remains to be done, is 
to take a towel and rub off the dry salt. We 
are now already pickled, and take the train for 
the city, more tired if not wiser, than we were in 
the morning. 

I met Judge McKean, and heard from his lips 
the story of Ann Eliza and the alimony. By 
the way if it were not for offending some of my 



252 OVER THE PUEPLE HILLS. 

handsome gentlemen acquaintances in California, 
I would pronounce Judge McKean, the best 
appearing and finest looking man of fifty that I 
ever met. He is evidently neither saturated 
with tobacco nor soaked with whisky; his eyes 
are as clear as the visual organs of a boy sixteen. 
It sounds very unnatural to speak well of a per- 
son while living and I will say no more, but 
wait patiently. When Judge McKean's decision 
was announced there was a panic among the 
bishops and elders, and when Brigham Young 
declared that he had but one legal wife, there 
was a panic among the j)lural edition of wives 
throughout the whole empire, so much so that 
those who had sufficient intelligence to compre- 
hend the situation, were perfectly horror stricken 
at the Prophet's evident cowardice. The miser- 
able old sinner, he ought to die by the violent 
hand of some woman and not be permitted to 
live out his days in peace. 



THE TEAYELEE'S BILL 

BEING a series of enactments for the regula- 
tion of hotels, boarding houses, lodging 
houses and restaurants. These acts, through our 
prayers and petitions, we hope to take effect 
throughout the United States of America, the 
British Provinces included. Having traveled 
eight months of the year for the last six years, 
and had all the varied experience brought about 
by coming in contact with every class of men in 
what is known as civilization, I feel that I am 
competent to judge for my sex wlio may desire 
to travel without a guardian; that they have 
great need of special legislative enactments, that 
they may not be subject to exorbitant, wicked 
extortions, personal insults, masculine abuse, and 
manv inconveniences arising^ from absurd and 
cruel prejudices. Many of these local prejudices 
(253) 



264: THE PURPLE HILLS. 

are so unreasonable that they would disgrace 
barbarians; and as we are about to enter upon 
our political inheritance, it becomes the duty of 
every intelligent person to endeavor to eradicate 
these unjust conditions. Man himself cannot be 
protected from the selfish propensities of his 
brother man without receiving the assistance of 
legislative acts setting forth the nature of his 
grievances and making laws to meet the needs 
of his case. How much more important is it 
that delicate woman should receive protection! 
most especially in her efforts at transacting busi- 
ness, also in meeting the numerous demands 
made upon her by society and the government. 
To work and transact business for ourselves and 
children is a right which society can scarcely 
deny to us; still it permits and tolerates in many 
instances a system of persecution entirely incon- 
sistent with the "oretentions of a liberty-loving 
people. 

Section 1. Proprietors of hotels, boarding 
houses, lodging liouses or restaurants shall not 
charge woman more than man for the same 
accommodations. 



THE TEAVELEk's BILL. '255 

Section 2. No proprietor of hotel, boarding 
house, lodging house or restaurant shall take 
liberties with women who travel alone; but such 
persons shall be allowed to make their own con- 
cessions. 

Section 3. No proprietor of hotel, boarding 
house, lodging house or restaurant shall inform 
any man of a woman's whereabouts who is in his 
house, without iirst informing her, unless it 
should be an officer of the law. 

Section 4. No proprietor of hotel, boarding 
house, lodging, house or restaurant shall beat, 
bully, or in any way abuse a woman because she 
falls short of money with which to pay her bills, 
or for any other reason. Whether married or 
single, the person of a woman shall be considered 
sacred, and her nervous system shall not be 
agitated. 

Section 5. If a regular boarder at hotel, 
boarding house or restaurant is missing at one 
meal, the waiter shall report the absent person at 
the office, and the proprietor of said house shall 
cause search to be made at once in the sleeping 
apartments of the missing individual, whether 
the apartments be under the same roof or some 
other. A person shall be deemed a regular 
boarder who has taken meals three consecutive 
days in the same place. The provisions of this 



266 OVER THE PURPLE HILLS. 

Bection shall not apply to persons boarding at 
restaurants who pay by the meal. 

Section 6. ]No hotel, boarding house, lodging 
house or restaurant shall be without a fireplace 
or means of warmth in the ladies' and gentlemen's 
sitting-rooms after the first day of October; and 
said means of warmth shall continue until the 
first day of May. 

Section T. All hotels, boarding houses, res- 
taurants and lodging houses shall have some 
general fountain of drinking water, or its equiv- 
alent, that men as well as women shall be able to 
procure drinking water without the necessity of 
going to the bar. 

S^anoN 8. No proprietor of hotel, boarding 
house or lodging house shall collect charges upon 
sleeping apartments infested with mosquitoes or 
bed bugs. 

Section 9. Any keeper of a boarding house, 
or proprietor of a hotel, found guilty of violating 
the provisions and requirements of either of the 
above sections, shall be deemed guilty of misde- 
meanor; and upon conviction shall be fined not 
less than twenty-five dollars nor more than three 
hundred dollars or imprisonment. 




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